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BISHOP HALL, HIS LIFE AND TIMES: 

OR, 

MEMOIRS OF 

THE LIFE, WRITINGS, AND SUFFERINGS, OF 

THE RIGHT REV. JOSEPH HALL, D. D. 

SUCCESSIVELY BISHOP OF EXETER AND NORWICH ; 
WITH 

A VIEW OF THE TIMES IN WHICH HE LIVED; 
AND AN APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING SOME OF HIS UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS, 
HIS FUNERAL SERMON, &C. 



BY THE REV. JOHN JONES, 

PERPETUAL CURATE OF CRADLEY, WORCESTERSHIRE. 



PRINTED FOR L, B. SEELEY AND SON, 
FLEET-STREET, LONDON. 

MDCCCXXVL 



J. SEE LEY, 
Printer, Buckingham. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP, I. 

Importance of the biography of excellent characters. " Obser- 
vations of some Specialities of Divine Providence in the 
Life of Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, written with his 
own hand." His father. Character of his mother. Dedi- 
cated from his infancy to the sacred ministry. Some of the 
most eminent Divines indebted to the early instructions of 
their mothers. Fraternal affection of Mr. Jos. Hall's 
brother. Mr. Jos. Hall's admission at Emmanuel College, 
Cambridge. His election into a scholarship, into a fellow- 
ship, and into the Rhetoric-Professorship. His intense 
study at the university. His piety. His relinquishing the 
Rhetoric-Professorship. His theological studies. His ordi- 
nation. His frequent preaching, . . . . Page 1-14. 

CHAP. II. 

Mr. Jos. Hall's whole residence at College. His presentation 
to the rectory of Halstead. His previous appointment to 
the mastership of Tiverton school. His rebuilding of Hal- 
stead rectory. His marriage. His children. Anecdote 
respecting his family. A person of the name of Lilly 
opposes him. His journey abroad with Sir E. Bacon. 
Motive of this journey. Account of his Travels, in a letter. 
His return. His dissatisfaction with Halstead. His 
preaching before Prince Henry — is made one of his Chap- 
lains. His intention of removing from Halstead . His accep- 
tance of the Living of Waltham Holy Cross. His unwilling- 
ness to leave Halstead. His taking his Doctor's degree : — 
he was a principal instrument in promoting the establish- 
ment of the Charter House. His Apology against the 



CONTENTS. 



Brownists— Account of that sect. His modest refusal of 
P. Henry's offers. His frequent preaching. His sermons. 
Death of P. Henry. His character. Dr. Hall made Preben- 
dary of Wolverhampton — recovers some emoluments belong- 
ing to that church — resigns his prebend. His attendance 
on the embassy to France. Is made Dean of Worcester. 
His return from France. Accompanies the King to Scot- 
land. Prejudices against him. Five articles proposed 
towards promoting uniformity in the kirk. Correspondence 
of Mr. Struthers with Dr. Hall. The five articles published 
in Scotland. His Majesty's journey unsuccessful. The 
king's return. The Bowk of Sports. Remarks upon it. 
Religious debates in Holland. Dr. Hail deputed as one of 
the English Divines to go to the Synod of Dort. His 
Majesty's instructions to the English divines. Some 
account of the Synod. The oath taken in it. Godwin's 
charges against the contra-remonstrants refuted. Dr. 
Hall's Letter to Dr. Fuller. Dr. Hall's return from the 
Synod. His ill health. His latin speech on taking his 
leave of the Synod. Public thanks given him. A gold 
medal presented to him. His Latin Sermon before the 
Synod. Quotation from. Results of the Synod. Opinions 
of the British divines. The church of England troubled 
with disputes. The king encourages Arminianism. Immo- 
derate disputes between Arminians and Calvinists. His 
Majesty restrains them. Doctrines of the church. Popery 
increasing. Montague's writings. Death of James I. 
Dr. Hall's remarks upon the growth of sects. Flattering 
great personages fashionable in Dr. Hall's time. He is 
guilty of this. Funeral sermon on James I. Dr. Hail's 
sermon, entitled, " Noah's Dove, &c." in latin, translated 
by Robert Hail, his son. His preaching at the re-opening 
of St. John's Chapel, Clerkenwell. Parliament consider 
Montague's books. The church disturbed by the Belgic 
disputes. Dr. Hall's reflections on them. His sentiments 
moderate. His Via Media. The object of this treatise. 
The doctrines of the church contained in it. Dr. Hall's 
attempt of reconciling the points in dispute, .. p. 15-1 11. 



CONTENTS. 



v 



CHAP. III. 

Dr. Hall's refusal of the See of Gloucester. His promotion to 
that of Exeter. Misunderstood in his writings against the 
church of Rome. Vindication of himself. His episcopal 
function attacked. His advice to his clergy. Recommends 
catechizing. Spent much of his life in that exercise. 
K. James's opinion of catechizing. Bishop Hail suspected 
of favouring Popery and Puritanism. Lectures set up in 
market-towns suppressed. Breach between the King and 
Puritans widening. Factious clergy in the diocese of 
Exeter. ' Most of them restored to order. Bishop Hall 
accused of encouraging lectures. His troubles on this 
account. He, and others of his brethren, charged with 
giving advantage to the disaffected. Laud promoting the 
second edition of the Book of Sports. A copy of it. The 
ill effects of it. The hardship of imposing its publication 
on the clergy. Many refused publishing it Sufferings of 
the clergy on this account. Remarks on the character of 
Charles I. Persons in authority should promote the obser- 
vance of the sabbath. The object of publishing the book 
of sports. Bishop Hall did not encourage its publica- 
tion. No mention of it in his works. Controversy 
about the morality of the sabbath revived. The long 
parliament insisted on the strict observance of the sabbath. 
The Book of Sports burnt. Archbishop Laud leaning to 
Popery. Communion tables ordered to be placed aliarwist. 
The consequent disputes and troubles. Prynne's sentence 
for writing his Bistriomastix. Bastwjck and Burton sen- 
tenced for their writings. Dr. Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, 
imprisoned. Osbaldeston severely treated, . . p. 112-151. 

CHAP. IV. 

Scottish Bishops nominal. Attempts of establishing episco- 
pacy in Scotland unsuccessful. Bishop Hall undertaking 
to write in defence of " the Divine Right of Episcopacy." 
Sketch of the work sent to Archbishop Laud. His Grace's 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



remarks and alterations. Bishop Hall did not insist on the 
reading of the Book of Sports, Testimony of Heylin. 
Bishop Hall dedicated his Treatise on Episcopacy, to 
Charles I. Was one of the most celebrated writers in 
defence of the church. His exhortation for adhering to 
Episcopacy. The peace of the church disturbed. Bag- 
shaw's attack on Episcopacy. Parliament meeting. Com- 
mittees for religion and grievances. Subsidies to the King 
not granted. Parliament dissolved. Lambeth palace 
attacked by a mob. Convocation, Subsidies to his 
Majesty. Canons made. Fury of the mob. Irregularity 
of the convocation. Substance of the new canons. Ex 
Officio oath. Bishop Hall s opinion of it. War with the 
Scots. Cessation of arms, p. 152-185. 

CHAP. v. 

Long parliament. Committees appointed. Petitions for 
redress of grievances. Complaints against the canons and 
their compilers. Resolutions of the house. More anger 
and prejudice than law and reason. Charges against 
Archbishop Laud,— he is impeached of high treason, and 
committed to the Tower. Convocation dwindled away. 
Mr. Warmistre's motion against the late canons. Bishop 
Williams released-resumes bis seat in parliament — is trans- 
lated to York. Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton remanded. 
Evil designs against the church. Leigh ton and Osbaldeston 
set at liberty. Dr. Cosins's sufferings. Petition against 
Dr. Matt. Wren— he is voted unfit to hold ecclesiastical 
preferments— is imprisoned. His sufferings. Complaints 
against the bishops. Clamours against the clergy. Lit- 
urgy railed at. Petitions against the clergy. Unfair ways 
of getting up these petitions. Outrageous spirit of the 
populace. Communion rails pulled down. Surplice torn. 
Liturgy abused. Sentence of parliament against these riots. 
Factious preachers and lecturers. Commissioners to 
demolish all ornaments, &c. in churches. St. Paul's cross, 
and that in Cheapside, pulled down. Arbitrary power of the 



CONTENTS. 



rii 



Commons. Some Puritans tools of parliament. Destruc- 
tion of the church intended. Seditious pamphlets. Bishop 
Hall's remarks upon them. He laments the outrages against 
the church. His speech in parliament, ... p. 186-204. 

CHAP. VI. 

Bishop Hall, a champion in defence of the church. Publishes 
his " Humble Remonstrance." Vindicates the antiquity of 
Liturgies. His controversy with Smectijmnuus. " Defence 
of the Remonstrance." His moderation and christian 
temper. Terminates the controversy by publishing " A 
Short Answer to the Tedious Vindication of Smectymnuns." 
His sentiments respecting- forms of prayers. Demolition of 
the church resolved. The Puritans assist its ruin. A warn- 
ing to future ages. Disingenuous ways of getting signa- 
tures to petitions. Clarendon's account of them. Mar- 
shall's deception. Petitions against the church. Root and 
Branch petition. Minister's petition. Petitions in favour of 
the church. Apprentices' petition. Speeches of Lords 
Digby and Falkland. Bishop Hall's character described. 
Substance of a petition in favor of the church. Minister's 
petition presented to the house. Resolutions of the Com- 
mons. A bill to exclude ecclesiastics from civil employ- 
ments, and Bishops from parliament. Sentiments of the 
King upon it. The bill passed the Commons — thrown out of 
the house of Lords. Principal speakers on behalf of the 
Bishops. Bishop Hall's speech on this occasion. Reso- 
lute conduct of the Bishops. The bill for extirpating 
Episcopacy. Sir E. Deeriug's speech. Much opposition 
to it. Lord Clarendon's dexterity. The bill dropped. 
Debates about abolishing deans and chapters. Dr.Hack- 
ett's able defence of the cathedral clergy. Petitions of the 
Universities. Resolutions of the Commons. Committee of 
accommodation. Fuller's account of it. Many Puritans 
desirous of retaining Episcopacy. Error of Rapin. Scott's 
commissioners voting Episcopacy contrary to the word of 
God. Rumour of the Army advancing to dissolve the 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



parliament. Proceedings against Papists. Protestation of 
the Commons — refused by two Peers. Explanation of it. 
Rejected by the Peers. Votes against the bishops and the 
church. Neal's remarks upon the protestation. The 
changes since the commencement of this parliament. Earl 
of Strafford's imprisonment and execution. The bill for not 
dissolving parliament passed. The King's weakness. The 
bills for abolishing the High Commission and the Star 
Chamber passed. Account of the High Commission Court, 
and that of the Star Chamber. Schemes to divide the 
bishops. Thirteen bishops impeached. Their plea and 
demurrer. Bishop Hall's speech, .... p. 205-253. 

CHAP. VII. 

Debates about the church — more involved and intricate. Par- 
liament sitting on Sunday. Declaration of parliament. 
His Majesty's journey into Scotland. Debate about the 
book of Common Prayer. Resolutions of the Commons. 
Opposed by the Peers. Unsettled state of religion. Dis- 
affected lecturers. Dr. Walker's account of them. Neal's 
opinion of them. Recess of Parliament. Bishop Hail 
retires to Exeter — preaches in the Cathedral. Quotations 
from his sermon. He pathetically laments the dissentions 
in church and state. Scandalous means to render people 
disaffected. False report of the King's intention to intro- 
duce presbyterianism into England. The King's letter. 
Vacant dioceses filled. The commons much offended. 
The most eminent men collated to the vacant sees. Bishop 
Hall translated to Norwich. Invidious remarks of Neal. 
The King inclined to promote the welfare of church and 
state. Irish insurrection. Meeting of parliament after 
recess. General remonstrance. His Majesty's answer. 
Commons dissatisfied. Kind's declaration. Commons 
disappointed at the impeached bishops' demurrer— in despair 
of getting their ends. Petitions against Episcopacy encou- 
raged. Public prayers for the success of the Apprentices' 
petition. Riots and tumults about the Parliament-house. 



CONTENTS. 



The Bishops' houses threatened to be pulled down. Arch- 
bishop of York assaulted. The Bishops abused. Protes- 
tation of the Bishops. Twelve of them accused of high 
treason, and committed to the Tower. A mistake of Fuller 
and Neal. Injustice of the Bishops' imprisonment. The 
bill for taking away the Bishops' Votes before rejected — is 
presented under another title — and passed. Bishop of 
Rochester's defence of the Bishops. Earl of Bedford's 
opposition to the bill. Petitions in favor of the Bishops. 
Rejoicings in London at the passing of the bill. His 
Majesty hesitating to sign it, is prevailed upon to do it. 
Influence of the Queen. Sad consequences of passing this 
bill. The King's party weakened. The nine reasons of the 
commons against the Bishops' votes. Answered by Bishop 
Hall. Harris's remarks. His Majesty's impeachment of 
five members of the commons. Imprudent step. No hopes 
of accommodation left. The royal standard hoisted at 
Nottingham. The twelve imprisoned Bishops petition for 
council —denied bail. Their trial postponed. Deprived of 
their spiritual promotions. Their estates forfeited. Annual 
allowance to the Bishops for life. They again petition to 
be admitted to bail. They are released, but re-committed. 
— at last set at liberty upon their bond. The protesting 
Bishops alternately preached during their confinement in 
the Tower. Bishop Hall's tranquillity of mind in the Tower. 
The Treatise " Free Prisoner," written in the Tower. 
Quotation from it. Bishop Hall's Letter from the Tower. 
A sermon of his preached in the Tower. When released, he 
withdraws to Norwich. His reception there. He preaches 
in the Cathedral. His frequent preaching, p. 254-338. 

CHAP. VIII. 

Open rupture between the King and Parliament. Parliament's 
declaration for further reformation. Nineteen propositions. 
His Majesty's reply. Civil war begun. Reflections on the 
state of things. The bill for extirpating Episcopacy. 
Church government interrupted. Ordinance for calling the 
assembly of divines. The royal prohibition of it. Meeting 



X 



CONTENTS. 



of the assembly. Episcopal divines forsaking it. Assist- 
ance of the Scots solicited. The solemn league and cove- 
nant. Royal proclamation against it. Sufferings of the 
Clergy. Church concerns managed by the assembly. 
Solemn league and covenant imposed on the University of 
Cambridge. A number of Graduates banished. Sufferings 
of the Clergy. Average number of sufferers. The fifths. 
Sufferings of the Bishops. Cathedrals and churches defaced 
and devastated. Norwich Cathedral devastated. Presbv- 
terianism introduced. Sects and parties arise. Licentious- 
ness and Antinomianisra brought in. Political principles of 
the Puritans absurd. Presbyterianism advanced into a 
divine institution, Erastians. Independents. Interreg- 
num in the church. Sects, parties, and heresies spring up. 
Oversight in the reformers. Religious confusion and disor- 
ders. Fanaticism. Bishop Hall's account of the fanatics. 
Their absurd and blasphemous opinions. Assembly of 
divines provide a succession of ministers. Directory for 
public worship. Common prayer books called in — prohi- 
bited in private families. Severities of Presbyterian Unifor- 
mity. Royal proclamation for the Common Prayer Book to 
be continued to be used. Catastrophe of Archbishop Laud. 
His character. His munificent actions. Treaty of 
Uxbridge. Bishop Hall's " Modest Offer" to the assembly 
of divines. Presbyterians and Independents differ. His 
Majesty's affairs decline. His Majesty's attachment to 
the church. Delivers himself up to the Scots. Debates 
between his Majesty and Mr. Henderson. Scots give up 
his Majesty to the Parliament. England partitioned into 
Presbyterian provinces- Military men preach. Enthusiasm 
in the army. Neal's account of the enthusiasts. Confu- 
sion and disorder of church and state. Quotations from 
Bishop Hall. He laments the deplorable state of things. 
His Majesty confined in Holmby-house, . . p. 305-338. 

CHAP. IX. 

The Army, not disposed to submit to Presbyterianism, insist on 
a toleration. Persecuting spirit of the Presbyterians. 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



Intention to secure the person of Cromwell. His escape. 
The Army seize the person of his Majesty. Army and 
Parliament differ. Escape of the King. He is secured in 
Carisbrook Castle. Public tranquillity precarious. Peti- 
tion of the suffering clergy to his Majesty. The King's 
reply. Their petition to the General. Their expectations 
cut off. Petition to the Presbyterian ministers. University 
of Oxford visited. Cruel ordinance of the Presbyterians. 
Insurrection in favor of the King. Second civil war. 
Treaty of Newport. His Majesty's concessions. His 
Majesty's mind much distressed. The remonstrance of the 
Army. Consternation of the Parliament. His Majesty 
secured in Hurst Castle. Presbyterian members excluded 
from the Parliament-house. Impeachment of his Majesty. 
His murder, p. 339-351. 

CHAP. X. 

House of Lords voted useless. Office of a king dangerous. 
Oaths of supremacy and allegiance abolished. The engage- 
ment. The commonwealth. Independent interest prevails. 
Sufferings of the Presbyterian ministers. Laxity of religious 
principles. Bishop Hall's remarks upon divisions in reli- 
gion. One hundred and eighty dangerous and blasphemous 
opinions now held. General confusion in religion. State 
of religion described. Quotation from Wilks' " Christian 
Essays." Engagement taken. Milton employed as a 
writer on the side of the commonwealth. Dean and 
Chapters' land ordered to be sold. Salaries of incumbents 
to be augmented. Public press under the direction of 
Parliament. Sufferings of the Clergy of remote parts of 
the kingdom. Propagation of the gospel in Wales. Origin 
of the Quakers. George Fox. Charles II. crowned in 
Scotland — defeated at Worcester. Cromwell turning the 
Parliament out of doors. Barebone's parliament. Their 
ludicrous proceedings. They dissolve themselves. Supreme 
power vested in Cromwell. He is made Protector. Instru- 
ment of Government. Toleration of all sects and heresies. 
Some of the episcopal clergy connived at. Two of Bishop 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



Hall's sons, and others. Some of the Bishops allowed to 
preach. | Bishop Rennet's testimony in favor of Cromwell. 
Parliament called. Debates of the Commons offensive to 
Cromwell. A recognition forced on them. Declension of 
Presbyterianism, Approbation of public ministers. Pre- 
vention of the sequestered clergy to get into livings. Par- 
tiality of the commissioners. Ordinance to humble the 
clergy. Deplorable state of the church. Measures to crush 
the loyal clergy. Extreme severities against them. Com- 
pelled to remonstrate to Cromwell. Archbishop Usher's 
intercession on behalf of the suffering clergy. Interview 
between Cromwell and Archbishop Usher. The Primate's 
grief at not succeeding. Corporation for the sons of the 
clergy. Origin of. Rev. George Hall, the bishop's son, 
preached the first sermon before the Corporation. Quota- 
tion from the sermon, p. 352-385. 

CHAP. XI. 

Bishop Hall's " Hard Measure,"— enjoyed but a short respite as 
Bishop of Norwich. Ordinance for sequestering the estates 
of notorious delinquents — among whom, Bishop Hall is 
enumerated. Cruelty of this ordinance. Sufferings of 
Bishop Hall. Lenient measures towards him and others. 
Negative oath. Bishop Hall ejected out of his palace. 
Mrs. Hall offering to pay the rent out of the fifths. He 
retires to Heigham. The Bishop's house still existing. He 
spent his retirement in doing good. His readiness to preach 
in the churches of Norwich. He was a diligent hearer as 
well as a preacher. Extract from a sermon preached by 
him in his eightieth year. His last years spent in devotion 
and meditation. His charitable acts. His patieuce during 
his last illness. His submission to the divine will. He 
was afflicted with the stone and strangury — foretold the 
night of his death. His legacies. Remarkable monition in 
his will. Mistake of his being buried in Heigham church- 
vard. His dislike of burials in churches. His sermon at 
Exeter. Buried in the chancel of Heigham church. His 
Tombstone. Inscription. Removal of his Tombstone. 



CONTENTS. 



Xlll 



His mural monument. Inscription. Mrs. Hall's death. 
Mr. J. Hall, the Bishop's son, buried. Tombstones of Mrs. 
Hall and son. Bishop Hall's " Songs in the Night," occa- 
sioned by Mrs. Hall's death. Quotations from them, 

p. 386-424. 

CHAP. XII. 

A VIEW OF THE CHARACTER OF BlSHOP HALL, AND OF 

his writings. His character described. His character 
by Richardson. Quotation from Godwin's De Presulibus. 
Bishop Hall, a child of Providence. Owed his preferments 
to merit. Letters dedicatory. His grateful sense of kind- 
nesses. His piety. Fondness of study. Manner of study. 
His letter to Lord Denny. Mode of spending the sabbath. 
Mildness of disposition. His usual signature. His activity 
and vigilance. His constancy and fortitude. A saying of 
Fuller. He wrote valuable Treatises in his old age. His 
time well employed. He was a wit and a poet. His 
satires. Gray's and Warton's character of them. His 
intended version of the Psalms. His prose works. He was 
called the English Seneca. The English Chrysostom. His 
character as a writer. Fuller's character of him. His 
practical works. His contemplations. Substance of ser- 
mons. Testimonies of Hervey andj Dr. Doddridge. Cha- 
racter of his Paraphrase on Scripture, by Dr. Doddridge. 
Mant's and D'Oyly's Commentary, much indebted to Bishop 
Hall's writings— also Scott's Commentary. Bishop Hall's 
character as a preacher. His sentiments evangelical. His 
meditations. His son Robert's account of them. His own 
account of them. His devotional writings. His Epistles. 
His Polemical writings. Treatises in Latin. His works 
first collected. Pratt's Edition. Sterne's plagiarisms, 

p. 425-448. 

CHAP. XIII. 

On Puritanism. Sketch of the history of Puritanism. 
Reformers. First Separatists. Fuller's account of the 
origin of the Puritans. Puritans not necessarily non-con- 



XIV 



CONTENTS. 



formists. A term of reproach. Puritans not all dissenters. 
Prominent trait in their character. Many of them great 
sufferers. Many of bad principles. Eminent Puritans with 
the Parliament. Many not less eminent with the King. 
All Puritans not really pious. Their failings. Their rigid 
behaviour. Their piety and devotion. Characteristics of 
a Puritan. Many of them faithful friends to the church. 
Puritanism productive of much good. Reformation of 
manners. Games and plays suppressed. Sabbath day 
strictly observed. State of religion during the long parlia- 
ment. The grand rebellion and usurpation. Bishop Hall and 
others of his brethren reckoned Puritans. Evangelical and 
Methodist now terms of reproach, .... p. 449-458. 



APPENDIX. 

Unpublished Letters to Archbishop Usher and others, 

p. 461-474. 

Latin Sermon, preached by Bishop Hall, before the Synod of 
Dort, p. 475. 

Dr. Alibone's Satirical Latin Verses on the Visitation of Oxford 
by the Antiloyalists, p. 493, 

Death's Alarm, a Funeral Sermon on the Right Reverend 
Joseph Hall, d.d. Bishop of Norwich, by J. Whitefoot, m.a. 

p. 501. 

Epitaph on the Monument of Mr. H. Bright, in Worcester 
Cathedral, composed by Bishop Hall, . . . . p. 566. 

Angelus e Ccelo ad Angelum Ecclesiae N. ad Ccelum transeuntem, 

p. 567. 

Upon the much-lamented Death of the Rev. Father Joseph, late 
Lord Bishop of Norwich, p. 569. 

In Obitum amplissimi Patris J. H. Episcopi Norvicensis, 

p. 572. 

Recommendatory Verses composed by Bishop Hall, and pre- 
fixed to Silvester's translation of Du Bartas, . . p. 574. 



PREFACE, 



The Author of this volume has endeavoured, as well as 
he could, to acquaint himself, with much labour and 
research, with the history of those eventful times in which 
the celebrated Bishop Hall lived, with the view of giving 
a full account of the life and sufferings of one of the most 
worthy of the sons of the Church of England, and a narrative 
of the principal events and transactions of that period. The 
aim of the author has been to give an impartial account of 
those times ; but he found it often a very difficult matter 
to discriminate the truth among a mass of confused and 
contradictory account of writers biassed and influenced by 
prejudice, faction, or party spirit. 

The author is far from vindicating the arbitrary power 
and the violent measures employed and adopted by the 
rulers of church and state, to promote their religious or 
secular ends in those times ; and he is bold also to affirm, 
that the persecuting, violent, and unchristian conduct, and 
evil practices of some of those called Puritans, of the 
Presbyterians and Independents, when they got the power 
in their own hands, have left upon them such an indelible 
stigma, as will never be forgotten. 

Bishop Hall has left us a brief account of his own life 
and sufferings ; but because of his great modesty, he 
has touched but slightly on some most interesting inci- 
dents ; the author has therefore endeavoured, from other 
authentic sources, to give, in the following Memoirs, a 
more copious detail; leaving, however, the good old 
Bishop, as much as possible, to be his own biographer. 
His life, which was long and useful, is replete with impor- 



xvi 



PREFACE. 



taut incidents, which will always prove interesting and 
instructive to all future generations. 

In every period of the Christian Church, there have 
been some eminent characters endued with primitive sim- 
plicity and genuine excellence ; among these we may most 
justly class the good, the pious, and the learned subject of 
the following Memoirs. His devotedness to the service of his 
divine Master, his great humility and patience under all his 
sufferings, were distinguishing traits in his character. The 
character given us of St.Augustin, may, with the greatest 
propriety, be applied to Bishop Hall : Insignis erat sanc- 
tissimi preesulis mansuetudo, ac miranda animi lenitas, 
et qucedcm invincibilis dementia. 

In the Appendix to this volume there will be found 
some unpublished pieces of Bishop Hall, particularly his 
Letters to Archbishop Usher and others, and his Latin 
Sermon before the Synod of Dort; which, it is hoped, 
will prove very acceptable to all who possess the last edition 
of his Works. Whitefoot's Funeral Sermon, inserted in 
the Appendix, is also not only of rare occurrence, but is 
highly valuable and interesting, as containing some striking 
particulars in the life of the Bishop. 

The author earnestly hopes that this volume may prove 
a profitable addition to the large mass of biography of 
good and excellent personages already before the public, 
as well as instructive and edifying to every Christian 
reader ; and it is his sincere prayer that all the sons of the 
Church may imitate the example of Bishop Hall, — follow 
him as he followed Christ, — live above this vain and 
troublesome WGrld, — bear with patience all the trials and 
sufferings of this mortal life, — and continually " mind 
eternity." * 

Cradley, Worcestershire, 
Oct. 4, 1825. 



* See Inscriptions on Bishop Hall's Monument, and of Mrs. Hall, 
pp. 419, 420. 



BISHOP HALL, 



HIS LIFE AND TIMES. 



CHAPTER I. 

If the memory of the wise, the pious, and 
the good is blessed, and should be preserved 
and illustrated for the advantage and improve- 
ment of future ages ; the name of Joseph Hall, 
successively Bishop of Exeter and Norwich, 
ought undoubtedly to be held in perpetual 
remembrance. Few, if any, of the fathers of the 
Church of England, have left behind them more 
lasting or exemplary proofs of learning, piety, 
and unwearied labours in the cause of truth. The 
purity of his life, the fervor of his charity, and the 
variety and importance of his theological writings, 
have ranked him among the brightest ornaments 
of the church. He was indeed a star of the first 
magnitude, alike admirable and eminent as an 
author, as an advocate of the church, and as a 
christian pastor and bishop of primitive simplicity 
and piety. 

B 



2 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



As Bishop Hall has left a brief account of his 
life, under the title of " Observations of some 
Specialities of Divine Providence in the Life of 
Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, written with 
his own hand," it appears advisable to adopt the 
whole of this narrative into the present Memoir, 
only pausing occasionally to introduce such other 
incidents and details as other and equally authen- 
tic accounts may furnish. 

The Bishop thus commences the Memoirs of 
himself. 

" NOT out of a vain affectation of my own 
glory, which I know how little it can avail me 
when I am gone hence ; but out of a sincere desire 
to give glory to my God, whose wonderful provi- 
dence I have noted in all my ways, have I 
recorded some remarkable passage of my fore- 
past life. What I have done is worthy of nothing 
but silence and forge tfulness ; but what God hath 
done for me, is worthy of everlasting and thank- 
ful memory. 

" I was born July 1, 1574, at five of the clock in 
the morning, in Bristow-Park, within the parish 
of Ashby de la Zouch, a town in Leicestershire, 
of honest and well-allowed parentage. 

" My father was an officer uader that truly 
honorable and religious Henry Earl of Hunting- 
don, President of the North; and, under him, 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 



3 



had the government of that market-town, wherein 
the chief seat of that earldom is placed. 

" My mother Winifride, of the house of the B a ru- 
bric 3 ges, was a woman of that rare sanctity, that, 
were it not for my interest in nature, I durst say, 
that neither Aleth the mother of that just Honor of 
Clareval, nor Monica, nor any other of those pious 
matrons anciently famous for devotion, need to 
disdain her admittance to comparison. She was 
continually exercised with the afflictions of a 
weak body, and oft of a wounded spirit : the 
agonies whereof, as she would oft recount with 
much passion, professing that the greatest bodily 
sicknesses were but flea-bites to those scorpions ; 
so, from them all, at last she found a happy and 
comfortable deliverance. And that, not without 
a more than ordinary hand of God : for, on a time, 
being in great distress of conscience, she thought 
in her dream, there stood by her a grave personage, 
in the gown and other habits of a physician ; who, 
inquiring of her estate, and receiving a sad and 
querulous answer from her, took her by the hand, 
and bade her be of good comfort, for this should 
be the last fit that ever she should feel of this 
kind; whereto she seemed to answer, that, on 
that condition, she could well be content for the 
time, with that or any other torment ; reply was 
made to her, as she thought, with a redoubled 

assurance of that happy issue of this her last trial ; 

B 2 



4 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



whereat she began to conceive an unspeakable 
joy; which yet, on Ler awaking, left her more 
disconsolate, as then conceiting her happiness 
imaginary, her misery real ; when, the very same 
day, she was visited by the reverend and (in his 
time) famous divine, Mr. Anthony Gilby,* under 
whose ministry she lived ; who, upon the relation 
of this her pleasing vision and the contrary effects 
it had in her, began to persuade her, that dream 
was no other than divine, and that she had good 
reason to think that gracious premonition was 
sent her from God himself : who, though ordinarily 
he keeps the common road of his proceedings, 
yet, sometimes, in the distresses of his servants, 
he goes unusual ways to their relief : hereupon she 
began to take heart; and, by good counsel and 
her fervent prayers, found that happy prediction 
verified to her; and, upon all occasions in the 
remainder of her life, was ready to magnify the 
mercy of her God in so sensible a deliverance. 
What with the trial of both these hands of God, 
so had she profited in the school of Christ, that it 
was hard for any friend to come from her discourse 
no whit holier. How often have I blessed the 
memory of those divine passages of experimental 



* He was a pious and zealous No!i-conform?st ; and was pro- 
foundly learned in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages. 
He was patronized by the Earl of Huntingdon, and was pre- 
sented to the Vicarage of Ashby de ia Zouch. 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 



5 



divinity, whicb I have heard from her mouth! 
What day did she pass, without a large task of 
private devotion? whence she would still come 
forth, with a countenance of undissembled mor- 
tification. Never any lips have read to me such 
feeling lectures of piety : neither have I known 
any soul that more accurately practised them 
than her own. Temptations, desertions, and spiri- 
tual comforts, were her usual theme. Shortly, 
for I can hardly take off my pen from so exemplary 
a subject, her life and death were saint-like. # 

" My parents had, from mine infancy, devoted 
me to this sacred calling, whereto, by the blessing 
of God, I have seasonably attained. For this 
cause, I was trained up in the public school of 
the place. 

" After I had spent some years, not altogether 



* It is singular and remarkable that many of those divines, 
who have proved most eminent for their piety and usefulness, 
have, in a particular manner, experienced the benefit of parental 
instruction ; and especially have imbibed religious principles 
from the piety and example of their mothers. Dr. Doddridge, 
before he was able to read, was instructed by his mother, in the 
histories of the Old and New Testament, by the assistance of 
some dutch isles in the chimney of the room, where they usually 
sat. The names of Auguslin, Hooker, Newton, Cecil, Buchanan, 
and Dwight, are here enumerated as insta ces of the happy and 
blessed effects of parental instruction in religion. This should 
encourage parents to bring up their children in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord. Though the instructions and pious 
examples of parents may not always seem to have immediate 
effect upon their children; yet the means should be used, and 
the most untoward may, through the divine blessing, be brought 
to the knowledge of the truth : for this is a course which has 
been so often crowned with success, and which is seldom or 



6 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



indiligently, under the ferule of such masters as 
the place afforded, and had near attained to some 
competent ripeness for the university, my school- 
master being a great admirer of one Mr. Pelset, 
who was then lately come from Cambridge to be 
the public preacher of Leicester (a man very emi- 
nent in those times, for the fame of his learning, 
but especially for his sacred oratory), persuaded 
my father, that if I might have my education 
under so excellent and complete a divine, it might 
be both a nearer and easier way to his purposed 
end, than by an academical institution. The 
motion sounded well in my father's ears, and 
carried fair probabilities : neither was it other 
than fore-compacted betwixt my schoolmaster 
and Mr. Pelset; so as, on both sides, it was 
entertained with great forwardness. 

u The gentleman, upon essay taken of my fitness 
for the use of his studies, undertakes within one 
seven years to send me forth, no less furnished 
with arts, languages, and grounds of theoretical 



never perhaps altogether in vain. " It is evident, that the pious 
endeavours of Lois and Eunice, in bringing young Timothy 
acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, laid the foundation of all 
his subsequent eminence and usefulness, in which he was infe- 
rior to none but the Apostles. It is probable, that, while they 
were teaching the child to read, and treasure up in his memory 
the oracles of God, they little thought what a harvest, in future 
life, would spring from the seed thus sown. But the Scripture 
warrants high expectations in this respect." See Memoir of 
Rev. Jeremiah Newell, annexed to his Funeral Sermon, by the 
late Rev. Thomas Scott. 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 7 

divinity, than the carefullest tutor in the strictest 
college of either university. Which that he 
might assuredly perform, to prevent the danger 
of any mutable thoughts in my parents or myself, 
he desired mutual bonds to be drawn betwixt us. 
The great charge of my father, whom it pleased 
God to bless with twelve children, made him the 
more apt to yield to so likely a project for a 
younger son. 

" There and now were all the hopes of my future 
life on blasting. The indentures were preparing: 
the time was set: my suits were addressed for 
the journey. 

M What was the issue ? O God, thy providence 
made and found it. Thou knowest how sincerely 
and heartily, in those my young years,* I did cast 
myself on thy hands : with what faithful resolu- 
tion I did, in this particular occasion, resign 
myself over to thy disposition ; earnestly begging 
of thee in my fervent prayers to order all things 
to the best, and confidently waiting upon thy 
will for the event. Certainly, never did I, in all 
my life, more clearly roll myself upon the Divine 
Providence, than I did in this business. And it 
succeeded accordingly. 

44 It fell out in this time that my elder brother, 
having some occasions to journey unto Cambridge, 



* Anno aetatis 15. 



8 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



was kindly entertained there by Mr. Nath. Gilby, 
fellow of Emanuel college : who, for that he was 
born in the same town with me, and had conceived 
some good opinion of my aptness to learning, in- 
quired diligently concerning me ; and hearing of 
the diversion of my father's purposes from the 
university, importunately dissuaded from that new 
course, professing to pity the loss of so good hopes. 
My brother, partly moved with his words, and 
partly won by his own eyes, to a great love and 
reverence of an academical life, returning home, 
fell on his knees to my father ; and, after the report 
of Mr. Gilby's words and his own admiration of 
the place, earnestly besought him, that he would 
be pleased to alter that so prejudicial a resolution, 
that he would not suffer my hopes to be drowned 
in a shallow country channel ; but that he would 
revive his first purposes for Cambridge ; adding, 
in the zeal of his love, that if the chargeableness 
of that course were the hinderance, he did there 
humbly beseech him rather to sell some part of 
that land, which himself should in course of nature 
inherit, than to abridge me of that happy means 
to perfect my education. No sooner had he 
spoken those words, than my father no less pas- 
sionately condescended ; not without a vehement 
protestation, that, whatsoever it might cost him, I 
should, God willing, be sent to the university. 
Neither were those words sooner out of his lips, 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 



9 



than there was a messenger from Mr. Pelset 
knocking at the door, to call me to that fairer 
bondage ; signifying, that the next day he expected 
me, with a full dispatch of all that business: to 
whom my father replied, that he came some 
minutes too late, that he had now otherwise 
determined of me; and, with a respective mes- 
sage of thanks to the master, sent the man home 
empty, leaving me full of the tears of joy for so 
happy a change. 

" Indeed I had been but lost, if that project 
had succeeded ; as it well appeared in the experi- 
ence of him who succeeded' in that room, which 
was by me thus unexpectedly forsaken. 

' k O God, how was I then taken up with a 
thankful acknowledgment and joyful admiration 
of thy gracious providence over me ! 

" And now I lived in the expectation of Cam- 
bridge ; whither, ere long, I happily came, under 
Mr. Gilby s tuition, together with my worthy 
friend Mr. Hugh Cholmley, who, as we had been 
partners of one lesson from our cradles, so were 
we now for many years partners of one bed. # 

" My two first years were necessarily charge- 
able above the proportion of my father's power; 
whose not very large cistern was to feed many 
pipes besides mine. His weariness of expense 



See Bishop Hall's Works, vol, ix, p 333. 



10 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



was wrought upon by the counsel of some unwise 
friends, who persuaded him to fasten me upon that 
school as master, whereof I was lately a scholar. 

" Now was I fetched home with a heavy heart : 
and now, this second time, had mine hopes been 
nipped in the blossom, had not God raised me 
up an unhoped benefactor, Mr. Edmund Sleigh 
of Derby, (whose pious memory I have cause 
ever to love and reverence), out of no other 
relation to me, save that he married my aunt. 
Pitying my too apparent dejectedness, he volun- 
tarily urged and solicited my father for my return 
to the university ; and offered freely to contribute 
the one half of my maintenance there, till I should 
attain to the degree of master of arts : which he 
no less really and lovingly performed. The con- 
dition was gladly accepted. 

" Thither was I sent back, with joy enough ; 
and, ere long, chosen scholar of that strict and 
well-ordered college. 

4 1 By that time I had spent six years there, now 
the third year of my bachelorship should at once 
both make an end of my maintenance, and in 
respect of standing give me a capacity of further 
preferment in that house, were it not that my 
country excluded me: for our statute allowed 
but one of a shire to be fellow there; and, my 
tutor being of the same town with me, must there- 
fore necessarily hold me out. 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 



11 



" But, O my God, how strangely did thy gra- 
cious providence fetch this business about ! I was 
now entertaining motions of remove. 

" A place was offered me in the island of Guern- 
sey, which I had in speech and chase. It fell 
out, that the father of my loving chambei?fellow, 
Mr. Cholmley, a gentleman that had likewise 
dependence upon the most noble Henry Earl of 
Huntingdon, having occasion to go to York, unto 
that his honorable lord, fell into some mention of 
me. That good Earl, who well esteemed my 
father's service, having belikely heard some better 
words of me than I could deserve, made earnest 
inquiry after me, what were my courses, what 
my hopes: and, hearing of the likelihood of my 
removal, professed much dislike of it; not with- 
out some vehemence, demanding why 1 was not 
chosen fellow of that college, wherein by report I 
received such approbation. Answer was returned, 
that my country debarred me ; which, being filled 
with my tutor, whom his Lordship well knew, 
could not by the statute admit a second. The 
Earl presently replied, that, if that were the 
hinderance, he would soon take order to remove 
it. Whereupon his Lordship presently sends for 
my tutor Mr. Gilby unto York ; and, with profer 
of large conditions of the chaplainship in his house, 
and assured promises of better provisions, drew 
him to relinquish his place in the college to a free 
election. No sooner was his assent signified, 



12 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



than the days were set for the public (and indeed 
exquisite) examination of the competitors. By 
that time two days of the three allotted to this 
trial were past, certain news came to us of the 
inexpected death of that incomparably religious 
and noble Earl of Huntingdon ; by whose loss my 
then disappointed tutor must necessarily be left 
to the wide world unprovided for. Upon notice 
thereof, I presently repaired to the master of the 
college, Mr. Dr. Chaderton ; # and besought him 
to tender that hard condition to which my good 
tutor must needs be driven, if the election 
proceeded ; to stay any further progress in that 
business ; and to leave me to my own good hopes 
wheresoever, whose youth exposed me both to less 
needs, and more opportunities of provision. 
Answer was made me, that the place was pro- 
nounced void however ; and, therefore, that my 
tutor was divested of all possibility of remedy, 
and must wait upon the providence of God for his 
disposing elsewhere, and the election must neces- 
sarily proceed the day following. Then was I, 
with a cheerful unanimity, chosen into that 
society ; w hich if it had any equals, I dare say 
had none beyond it, for good order, studious 
carriage, strict government, austere piety: in 



* He was the first Master of Emanuel College ; was for 
many years Lecturer at St. Clement's in Cambridge, with great 
profit to his auditors ; and was one of the translators of the 
Bible. 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 



13 



which I spent six or seven years more, with such 
contentment, as the rest of my life hath in vain 
striven to yield. 

" Now was I called to public disputations often, 
with no ill success: for never durst I appear in 
any of those exercises of scholarship, till I had 
from my knees looked up to heaven for a bles- 
sing, and renewed my actual dependence upon 
that divine hand. 

" In this while, two years together was I chosen 
to the rhetoric lecture in the public schools ; 
where I was encouraged with a sufficient frequence 
of auditors : but, finding that well -applauded 
work somewhat out of my way, not without a 
secret blame of myself for so much excursion, I 
fairly gave up that task, in the midst of those 
poor acclamations, to a worthy successor, Mr. 
Dr. Dod ; and betook myself to those serious 
studies, which might fit me for that high calling 
whereunto I was destined. # " 

During his residence in the University, he stu- 
died so intensely, that it appears from a letter of 



* Fuller says in his *' Worthies of England," that " he passed 
all his degrees with great applause. First, noted in the Univer- 
sity, for his ingenious maintaining (be it Truth, or Paradox,) 
that Mundus senescit, " The world growetli old." Yet, in 
some sort, his position confuteth his position, the wit and 
quickness whereof did argue an increase rather than a decay of 
parts in this latter age." 



14 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



his to Mr. Hugh Cholmley, who had been his 
school-fellow, and was also his intimate friend in 
the same college, his friends were dissuading him 
from immoderate study. " I have," says he, " a 
body, that controls me enough in these courses ; 
my friends need not. There is nothing whereof 
I could sooner surfeit, if I durst neglect my body, 
to satisfy my mind : but, while I affect know- 
ledge, my weakness checks me, and says, 
6 Better a little learning, than no health.' I yield, 
and patiently abide myself debarred of my chosen 
felicity." 

" Wherein" (he continues his narrative) " after 
I had carefully bestowed myself for a time, I took 
the boldness to enter into sacred orders : the 
honor whereof having once attained, I was no 
niggard of that talent which my God had intrusted 
to me ; preaching often, as occasion was offered, 
both in country villages abroad, and at home in 
the most awful auditory of the university. 

" And now I did but wait where and how it 
would please my God to employ me."* 



* He had resided at College, in the whole, about thirteen 
jears. He was presented to Halsted in the year 1601. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE Bishop continues his narrative. — " There 
was at that time a famous school erected at 
Tiverton in Devon, and endowed with a very 
large pension ; whose goodly fabric was answerable 
to the reported maintenance : the care whereof 
was, by the rich and bountiful founder, Mr. Blun- 
del, # cast principally on the then Lord Chief 
Justice Popham. That faithful observer, having 
great interest in the master of our house, Dr. 
Chaderton, moved him earnestly to commend 
some able, learned, and discreet governor to that 
weighty charge ; whose action should not need to 
be so much as his oversight. It pleased our 
master, out of his good opinion, to tender this 



* Peter Blundel, a Dative and clothier of that town, founded 
and endowed this school, which is a great ornament to the 
place. He appointed a feast to be kept annually on St. Peter's 
day in commemoration of him, for which he left a liberal 
allowance. He also founded two fellowships and two scholar- 
ships in Sidney College, Cambridge, and one fellowship and two 
scholarships in Baliol College, Oxford, for the scholars educated 
in this school. 



16 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL, 



condition unto me: assuring me of no small 
advantages, and no great toil ; since it was 
intended the main load of the work should lie upon 
other shoulders. I apprehended the motion worth 
the entertaining. In that severe society our times 
were stinted : neither was it wise or safe to refuse 
good offers. Mr. Dr. Chaderton carried me to 
London; and there presented me to the Lord 
Chief Justice, with much testimony of approba- 
tion. The Judge seemed well apaid with the 
choice. I promised acceptance ; he, the strength 
of his favor. No sooner had I parted from the 
Judge, than, in the street, a messenger presented 
me with a letter, from the right virtuous and 
worthy lady, of dear and happy memory, the 
Lady Drury of Suffolk, tendering the rectory of 
her Halsted, then newly void, and very earnestly 
desiring me to accept of it. Dr. Chaderton, 
observing in me some change of countenance, 
asked me what the matter might be. I told him 
the errand, and delivered him the letter ; beseech- 
ing his advice : which when he had read, 6 Sir, 
quoth I, ' methinks God pulls me by the sleeve; 
and tells me it is his will, I should rather go to the 
east than to the west.' 6 Nay,' he answered, 4 1 
should rather think that God would have you go 
westward, for that he hath contrived your engage- 
ment before the tender of this letter ; which there- 
fore coming too late, may receive a fair and easy 



ENTRANCE ON THE MINISTRY. 



17 



answer." To this I besought him to pardon my 
dissent ; adding, that I well knew, that divinity 
was the end whereto I was destined by my 
parents ; which I had so constantly proposed to 
myself, that I never meant other, than to pass 
through this western school to it : but I saw that 
God who found me ready to go the further way 
about, now called me the nearest and directest 
way to that sacred end. The good man could no 
further oppose; but only pleaded the distaste 
which would hereupon be justly taken by the Lord 
Chief Justice, whom I undertook fully to satisfy : 
which I did with no great difficulty ; commending 
to his Lordship, in my room, my old friend and 
chamber-fellow Mr. Cholmley : who finding an 
answerable acceptance, disposed himself to the 
place ; so as we two, who came together to the 
university, now must leave it at once.* 



* See Sir John Cullum's History of the parishes of Hawsted 
and Hardwick, second edition, p. 68, in the list of Rectors, 
" 2 Dec. 1601. Joseph Hall, A. M. ad pres Rob. Drury, mil." 

Sir Robert Drury was the son of Sir William Drury, who was 
in 1589 killed in a duel in Frauce : " even before he was out 
of mourning for his father, he attended the Earl of Essex to 
the unsuccessful siege of Rohan, in 1591, where he was 
knighted, when he could not exceed the age of fourteen years." 
Sir J. Cullum's History of Hawsted and Hardwick, pp. 168, 170. 
The family of Drury, which signifies in old English, a precious 
Jewel, has been of great reputation at Halsted and elsewhere, 
more especially since they were married with the heiress of 
Fresil of Sexham.— See Camden's Britannia, p. 370. Ed. 1695. 

C 



18 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

" Having then fixed my foot at Halsted, I found 
there a danger opposite to the success of my 
ministry, a witty and bold atheist, one Mr. Lilly f 
who by reason of his travails, and abilities of 



* Probably this Mr. Lilly was John Lilly, a dramatic writer, 
born in Kent in 1553. At sixteen years of age, he became a 
member of Magdalen College, Oxford; in 1573 he took the 
degree of Bachelor, and that of Master of Arts in 1575-6. He 
seems afterwards to have travelled ; he published a celebrated 
work, entitled " Euphues, or, the Anatomy of Wit." It is 
ascertained by his verses prefixed to a book entitled " Christian 
Passions," by H. Lok, published in 1597, that Lilly was then 
living. The exact time of his death is not known, but it probably 
happened soon after the year 1600. No particulars of his 
person, or private life, have come down to us, except that he 
was married; that he was a little man, and a great taker of 
tobacco. His dramatic writings abound with perpetual allu- 
sions to a kind of fabulous natural history, in which he, and 
some of his contemporaries frequently indulged themselves, and 
for which he has been justly censured by Drayton and others. 
" Lilly, when at Oxford, was so much distinguished for his wit 
and vivacity, that one of his adversaries endeavoured to depre- 
ciate him on this ground, as if his spriteliness and humour were 
greater than became a scholar." 

It is therefore highly probable that this Lilly was the identical 
adversary of Hall ; his abilities of discourse, his wit, " his fabulous 
natural history," and perhaps other profane writings, might 
give occasion to Hall to call him " a witty and bold atheist." 
The want of a knowledge of his fate bespeaks him the same 
person ; Hall in his " account of himself," says, " this malicious 
man going hastily up to London to exasperate niy patron against 
me, was then and there swept away by the pestilence, and never 
returned to do any farther mischief." His being patronized 
by SirR.Drury, the patron of poets and wits, is another strong 
circumstance to identify him as the very person mentioned by 
Hall. The learned and witty Dr. Donne was patronized by 
him ; to whom and his family, apartments were assigned in Sir R. 
Drury's large house in Drury Lane. See Sir J. Cullum's History 
of Hawsted, p. 170. 



AT HALSTED. 



19 



discourse and behaviour, had so deeply insinuated 
himself into my patron, Sir Robert Drury, that 
there was small hopes, during his entireness, for 
me to work any good upon that noble patron 
of mine; who, by the suggestion of this wicked 
detractor, was set off from me before he knew me. 
Hereupon, 1 confess, rinding the obduredness and 
hopeless condition of that man I bent my prayers 
against him; beseeching God daily, that he would 
be pleased to remove, by some means or other ? 
that apparent hinderance of my faithful labors: 
who gave me an answer accordingly; for this 
malicious man, going hastily up to London to 
exasperate my patron against me, was then and 
there swept away by the pestilence, and never 
returned to do any farther mischief. Now the 
coast was clear before me ; and I gained every 
day of the good opinion and favourable respects 
of that honourable gentleman and my worthy 
neighbors. 

" Being now therefore settled in that sweet and 
civil country of Suffolk, near to St. Edmund's- 
Bury, my first work was to build up my house, 
which was then extremely ruinous. 

" Which done, the uncouth solitariness of my 
life, and the extreme incommodity of that single 
housekeeping, drew my thoughts, after two years, 
to condescend to the necessity of a married 
estate, which God no less strangely provided for 

C 2 



20 



LIFE OF BISHOP H A.LL. 



me ; for, walking from the church on Monday in 
the Whitsun-week, with a grave and reverend 
minister, Mr. Grandidge, I saw a comely and 
modest gentlewoman standing at the door of 
that house where we were invited to a wedding- 
dinner; and, inquiring of that worthy friend 
whether he knew her, ' Yes,' quoth he, ' I know 
her well, and have bespoken her for your wife.' 
When I further demanded an account of that 
answer, he told me she was the daughter of a 
gentleman whom he much respected, Mr. George 
Winniff* of Bretenham ; that, out of an opinion 
had of the fitness of that match for me, he had 
already treated with her father about it, whom he 
found very apt to entertain it ; advising me not to 
neglect the opportunity, and not concealing the 
just praises of the modesty, piety, good disposi- 
tion, and other virtues, that were lodged in that 
seemly presence. I listened to the motion, as 
sent from God ; and, at last, upon due prosecu- 
tion, happily prevailed; enjoying the comfortable 
society of that meet, help for the space of forty- 
nine years." 

Bishop Hall had many children; his eldest 
son Robert was christened at Halsted, 26th 
Dec. 1605, and was educated at Exeter College, 
Oxford. March 4, 1628, he was collated to a 
prebend in the Cathedral of Exeter, was Rector 



HIS FAMILY. 



21 



of Stokeintinny, Devon, which he resigned, and 
to which his brother, Samuel Hall, succeeded. 
He was a great sufferer in the time of the usurpa- 
tion, but at the restoration, he was repossessed of 
his preferments. He was a learned man, a con- 
stant preacher, and very hospitable and pious. 
The other son, the Rev. Samuel Hall, towards the 
end of the year 1640, was a prebendary of 
Exeter, he suffered during the usurpation, and 
died in the year 1674. Another of his sons was 
the Rev. George Hall, born at Waltham in Essex, 
when his father was the incumbent there ; he was 
educated at Exeter College, Oxford, of which he 
became a fellow, and to which he was a consider- 
able benefactor at his death. Dec. 23, 1639, he 
was made prebendary of Exeter, and Oct. 8, 1641, 
was made Archdeacon of Cornwall, on the resig- 
nation of his eldest brother. After the restora- 
tion, he was made Chaplain to Charles II, Canon 
of Windsor, Archdeacon of Canterbury; and in 
1662, he was promoted to the See of Chester. 
He died Aug. 23, 1668 * The cause of his death 
was rather singular; he was killed by a knife 
which happened to be open in his pocket, when 
he fell in his garden at Wigan. 

The following anecdote respecting his large 
family of children, his remarks, and parental 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part II. pp. 25-27. 



22 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



affection, are highly interesting : " I remember/* 
says he, "a great man coming to my house at 
Waltham, and seeing all my children standing in 
the order of their age and stature, said, ' These 
are they that make rich men poor,' but he straight 
received this answer; ' Nay, my Lord, these are 
they, that make a poor man rich ; for there is not 
one of these, whom we would part with for all 
your wealth.' Then he remarks ; " it is easy to 
observe, that none are so gripple and hard fisted, 
as the childless: whereas those, who, for the 
maintenance of large families, are inured to fre- 
quent disbursements, find such experience of 
Divine Providence in the faithful managing of 
their affairs, as that they lay out with more cheer- 
fulness than they receive. Wherein their care 
must be abated, when God takes it off from them 
to himself; and, if they be not wanting to them- 
selves, their faith gives them ease, in casting their 
burden upon him, who hath both more power and 
more right to it, since our children are more his 
than our own. He that feedeth the young ravens, 
Ps. cxlvii, 9. can he fail the best of his creatures?" 

" Worthy Master Greenham tells us of a gen- 
tlewoman, who coming into the cottage of a poor 
neighbour, and seeing it furnished with store of 
children, could say, Here are the mouths, but 
where is the meat? but, not long after, she was 
paid in her own coin: for the poor woman, coming 



VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 



23 



to her after the burial of her last and now only 
child, inverted the question upon her, ' Here is 
the meat, but where are the mouths ? "' * 

The Bishop continues. — " I had not passed two 
years in this estate, when my noble friend, Sir 
Edmund Bacon, with whom I had much entire- 
ness, came to me ; and earnestly solicited me for 
my company in a journey, by him projected to the 
Spa in Ardenna : laying before me the safety, the 
easiness, the pleasure, and the benefit, of that small 
extravagance, if opportunity were taken of that 
time, when the Earl of Hertford passed in 
embassy to the Ar, hduke Albert of Brussels. I 
soon yielded ; as for the reasons by him urged, 
so especially for the great desire I had to inform 
myself ocularly of the state and practice of the 
Romish church ; the knowledge whereof might 
be of no small use to me in my holy station, 

" Having, therefore, taken careful order for the 
supply of my charge, with the assent and good 
allowance of my nearest friends, I entered into 
this secret voyage. 

u We waited some days at Harwich for a wind ; 
which we hoped might waft us over to Dunkirk, 
where our Ambassador had lately landed : but, 
at last, having spent a day and half a night at sea, 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. viii, p. 177. 



24 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



we were forced, for want of favor from the wind, 
to put in at Queenborough : from whence coast- 
ing over the rich and pleasant country of Kent, 
we renewed our shipping at Dover ; and, soon 
landing at Calais, we passed after two days by 
waggon to the strong towns of Gravelines and 
Dunkirk : where I could not but find much 
horror in myself to pass under those dark and 
dreadful prisons, where so many brave English- 
men had breathed out their souls in a miserable 
captivity. From thence we passed through Win- 
noxberg, Ypres, Ghent, Courtray, to Brussels; 
where the Ambassador had newly sat down 
before us. 

" That noble gentleman, in whose company I 
travelled, was welcomed with many kind visita- 
tions. Amongst the rest, there came to him an 
English gentleman, who, having run himself out 
of breath in the inns of court, had forsaken his 
country, and therewith his religion; and was 
turned both bigot and physician, residing now in 
Brussels. This man, after few interchanges of 
compliment with Sir Edmund Bacon, fell into a 
hyperbolical predication of the wonderful miracles 
done newly by our Lady at Zichem, or Sherpen- 
Heavell, that is Sharp- Hill, by Lipsius Apri- 
collis : the credit whereof when that worthy 
knight wittily questioned, he avowed a particular 
miracle of cure wrought by her on himself. I, 



VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 



25 



coming into the room in the midst of this dis- 
course, habited not like a divine but in such 
color and fashion as might best secure my travel, 
and hearing my countryman's zealous and con- 
fident relations, at last asked him this question : 
* Sir,' quoth I, put case this report of yours be 
granted for true, I beseech you teach me what 
difference there is, betwixt these miracles which 
you say are wrought by this lady, and those 
which were wrought by Vespasian, by some 
vestals, by charms, and spells ; the rather, for 
that I have noted, in the late published report of 
these miracles, some patients prescribed to come 
on a Friday, and some to wash in such a well 
before their approach, and divers other such 
charm-like observations.' The gentleman, not 
expecting such a question from me, answered, 
' Sir, I do not profess this kind of scholarship ; 
but we have in the city many famous divines, 
with whom if it would please you to confer, you 
might sooner receive satisfaction.' I asked him 
whom he took for the most eminent divine of 
that place. He named to me Father Costerus : 
undertaking that he would be very glad to give 
me conference, if I would be pleased to come up 
to the Jesuits' college. I willingly yielded. In 
the afternoon, the forward gentleman prevented 
his time to attend me to the Father, as he styled 
him ; who, as he said, was ready to entertain me 



26 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



with a meeting. I went alone up with him. The 
porter, shutting the door after me, welcomed me 
with a Deo gratias. I had not staid long in the 
Jesuits' hall, before Costerus came in to me : 
who, after a friendly salutation, fell into a formal 
speech of the unity of that church, out of which 
is no salvation : and had proceeded to lose his 
breath and labor, had not I, as civilly as I might, 
interrupted him with this short answer : ' Sir, I 
beseech you mistake me not. My nation tells 
you of what religion I am. I come not hither, 
out of any doubt of my professed belief, or any 
purpose to change it ; but, moving a question to 
this gentleman concerning the pretended miracles 
of the time, he pleased to refer me to yourself 
for my answer : which motion of his I was the 
more willing to embrace, for the fame that I have 
heard of your learning and worth : and, if you 
can give me satisfaction herein, I am ready to 
receive it.' Hereon we settled to our places, at 
a table in the end of the hall ; and buckled to a 
further discourse. He fell into a poor and 
unperfect account of the difference of divine 
miracles and diabolical; which I modestly 
refuted. From thence he slipped into a choleric 
invective against our church, which, as he said, 
could not yield one miracle ; and when I 
answered, that, in our church, we had manifest 
proofs of the ejection of devils by fasting and 



VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 27 

prayer, he answered, that, if it could be proved, 
that ever any devil was dispossessed in our 
church, he would quit his religion. Many 
questions were incidently traversed by us, wherein 
I found no satisfaction given me. The confer- 
ence was long and vehement : in the heat whereof, 
who should come in but Father Baldwin, an 
English Jesuit, known to me, as by face (after I 
came to Brussels) so much more by fame. He 
sat down on a bench, at the further end of the 
table, and heard no small part of our disserta- 
tion; seeming not too well apaid, that a gentle- 
man of his nation (for still I was spoken to in 
that habit, by the style of Dominatio vestra) 
should depart from the Jesuits' college no better 
satisfied. On the next morning, therefore, he 
sends the same English physician to my lodging, 
with a courteous compellation ; professing to 
take it unkindly, that his countryman should 
make choice of any other to confer with than 
himself, who desired both mine acquaintance and 
full satisfaction. Sir Edmund Bacon, in whose 
hearing the message was delivered, gave me secret 
signs of his utter unwillingness to give way to my 
further conferences : the issue whereof, since we 
were to pass further and beyond the bounds of 
that protection, might prove dangerous. I 
returned a mannerly answer of thanks to F. 
Baldwin ; but, for any further conference, that 



28 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

it were bootless. I could not hope to convert 
him, and was resolved he should not alter me ; 
and, therefore, both of us should rest where 
we were. 

" Departing from Brussels, we were for Namur 
and Liege. In the way we found the good hand 
of God, in delivering us from the danger of free- 
booters ; and of a nightly entrance, amidst a 
suspicious convoy, into that bloody city. 

"Thence we came to the Spadane Waters; 
where I had good leisure to add a second Cen- 
tury of Meditations to those I had published 
before my journey. 

" After we had spent a just time at those 
medicinal wells, we returned to Liege ; and, in 
our passage up the river Mosa, I had a dangerous 
conflict with a Sorbonist, a prior of the Carme- 
lites, who took occasion, by our kneeling at the 
receipt of the Eucharist, to persuade all the 
company of our acknowledgment of a transub- 
stantiation. I satisfied the cavil; showing on 
what ground this meet posture obtained with us. 
The man grew furious upon his conviction ; and his 
vehement associates began to join with him, in a 
right-down railing upon our church and religion. 
I told them they knew where they were : for 
me, I had taken notice of the security of their 
laws, inhibiting any argument held against their 
religion established, and therefore stood only on 



VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 



29 



my defence ; not casting any aspersion on theirs, 
but ready to maintain our own : which though I 
performed in as fair terms as I might, yet the 
choler of those zealots was so moved, that the 
paleness of their changed countenances began 
to threaten some perilous issue, had not Sir 
Edmund Bacon, both by his eye and by his 
tongue, wisely taken me off. I subduced myself 
speedily from their presence, to avoid further 
provocation. The Prior began to bewray some 
suspicions of my borrowed habit ; and told them 
that himself had a green satin suit once prepared 
for his travels into England : so as I found it 
needful for me to lie close at Namur. 

" From whence travelling the next day towards 
Brussels in the company of two Italian captains, 
Signior Ascanio Negro, and another whose name 
I have forgotten : who, inquiring into our nation 
and religion, wondered to hear that we had any 
baptism or churches in England ; the congruity 
of my Latin, in respect of their perfect barbarism, 
drew me and the rest into their suspicion : so as 
I might overhear them muttering to each other, 
that we were not the men we appeared. Straight 
the one of them boldly expressed his conceit; 
and, together with this charge, began to inquire 
of our condition. I told him, that the gentleman 
he saw before us was the grandchild of that 
renowned Bacon, the great chancellor of England, 



30 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



a man of great birth and quality; and that 
myself and my other companion travelled in his 
attendance to the Spa, from the train and under 
the privilege of our late ambassador : with which 
just answer I stopped their mouths. 

" Returning through Brussels, we came down 
to Antwerp, the paragon of cities: where my 
curiosity to see a solemn procession on St. John 
Baptist's day might have drawn me into danger, 
through my willing unreverence, had not the hulk 
of a tall Brabanter, behind whom I stood in a 
corner of the street, shadowed me from notice. 

" Thence, down the fair river of Scheldt, we 
came to Flushing: where, on the resolution of 
our company to stay some hours, I hasted to 
Middleburgh, to see an ancient colleague. That 
visit lost me my passage. Ere I could return, 
I might see our ship under sail for England. 
The master had with the wind altered his pur- 
pose; and called aboard with such eagerness, 
that my company must either away, or undergo 
the hazard of too much loss. I looked long 
after them in vain ; and, sadly returning to Mid- 
dleburgh, waited long, for an inconvenient and 
tempestuous passage." 

The following account of his travels, in an 
epistle to Sir Thomas Challoner, tutor to Henry 
Prince of Wales, in addition to the above, is well 
worthy to be recorded here : 



VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 



31 



" Beside my hopes, not my desires, I travelled 
of late : for knowledge, partly ; and, partly, for 
health. There was nothing, that made not my 
journey pleasant, save the labour of the way: 
which yet was so sweetly deceived, by the society 
of Sir Edmund Bacon, a gentleman truly honour- 
able beyond all titles, that I found small cause to 
complain. 

" The sea brooked not me, nor I it ; an unquiet 
element, made only for wonder and use, not for 
pleasure. Alighted once from that wooden con- 
veyance and uneven way, I bethought myself how 
fondly our life is committed to an unsteady and 
reeling piece of wood, fickle winds, restless 
waters ; while we may set foot, on steadfast and 
constant earth. 

" Lo, then every thing taught me, every thing 
delighted me : so ready are we to be affected 
with those foreign pleasures, which, at home, we 
should overlook. I saw much, as one might in 
such a span of earth, in so few months. The time 
favoured me : for, now newly had the key of 
peace opened those parts, which war had before 
closed ; closed, I say, to all English, save either 
fugitives or captives. All civil occurrences ; as 
what fair cities, what strange fashions, entertain- 
ment, dangers, delights we found ; are fit for other 
ears, and winter evenings : what 1 noted, as a 
divine, within the sphere of my profession, my 



32 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



paper shall not spare, in some part, to report ; 
and that to yourself, which have passed a longer 
way, with more happy fruit of observation. Even 
little streams empty themselves into great rivers ; 
and they, again, into the sea. Neither do I desire 
to tell you, what you know not : it shall be suffi- 
cient, that I relate ought, which others shall think 
memorable. 

" Along our way, how many churches saw we 
demolished ! Nothing left, but rude heaps, to 
tell the passenger, there had been both devotion 
and hostility. Oh, the miserable footsteps of war, 
besides bloodshed, ruin and desolation ! Fury 
hath done that there, which Covetousness would 
do with us ; would do, but shall not : the 
truth within, shall save the walls without. And, 
to speak truly, whatever the vulgar exclaim, 
idolatry pulled down those walls ; not rage. If 
there had been no Hollander to raze them, they 
should have fallen alone ; rather than hide so 
much impiety, under their guilty roof. These are 
spectacles, not so much of cruelty, as justice: 
cruelty of man, justice of God. 

" But, which I wondered at, Churches fall, and 
Jesuits' Colleges rise, every where : there is no 
city, where those are not either rearing or built. 
Whence cometh this ? Is it, for that devotion is 
not so necessary, as policy ? Those men, as we 
say of the fox, fare best, when thev are most 



VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 



33 



cursed: none, so much spited of their own; none, 
so hated of all ; none, so opposed by ours : and 
yet these ill weeds grow. Whosoever lives long, 
shall see them feared of their own, which now 
hate them ; shall see these seven lean kine devour 
all the fat beasts, that feed on the meadows ot 
Tiber, I prophesy, as Pharaoh dreamed: the 
event shall justify my confidence. 

" At Bruxilles, I saw some Englishwomen pro- 
fess themselves Vestals ; with a thousand rites ; 
I know not whether more ridiculous, or magical. 
Poor souls ! they could not be fools enough at 
home. It would have made you to pity, laugh, 
disdain, I know not which more, to see, by what 
cunning slights and fair pretences, that weak sex 
was fetched into a wilful bondage : and, if those 
two can agree, willingly constrained to serve a 
master, whom they must and cannot obey : whom 
they neither may forsake for their vow, nor can 
please for their frailty. What follows hence? 
Late sorrow, secret mischief, misery irremediable. 
Their forwardness for will-worship, shall condemn 
our coldness for truth. 

" I talked there, in more boldness perhaps than 
wisdom, with Costerus, a famous Jesuit ; an old 
man, more testy than subtle, and more able to 
wrangle than satisfy. Our discourse was long 
and roving; and, on his part, full both of words 
and vehemency. He spake, as at home; I, as a 

T) 



34 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



stranger : yet so, as he saw me modestly peremp- 
tory. The particulars would swell my letter too 
much : it is enough, that the truth lost less than I 
gained. 

" At Gant, a city that commands reverence 
for age and wonder for the greatness, we fell upon 
a Capuchin Novice, which wept bitterly, because 
he was not allowed to be miserable. His head 
had now felt the razor; his back, the rod : all that 
Laconical discipline pleased him well; which 
another, being condemned to, would justly ac- 
count a torment. What hindered then? Piety, 
to his mother, would not permit this, which he 
thought piety to God. He could not be a willing 
beggar, unless his mother must beg unwillingly. 
He was the only heir of his father, the only stay 
of his mother: the comfort of her widowhood 
depended on this her orphan ; who now, naked, 
must enter into the world of the Capuchins, as he 
came first into this ; leaving his goods to the divi- 
sion of the fraternity: the least part whereof 
should have been her's, whose he wished all. 
Hence those tears, that repulse. I pitied his ill- 
bestowed zeal; and rather wished, than durst, 
teach him more wisdom. These men for devout, 
the Jesuits for learned and pragmatical, have 
engrossed all opinions, from other Orders. O 
hypocrisy! No Capuchin may take or touch 
silver : for these are, you know, the quintessence 



VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 35 

of Franciscan spirits. This metal is as very an 
anathema to these, as the wedge of gold to 
Achan: at the offer whereof he starts back, as 
Moses from the Serpent: yet he carries a boy 
with him, that takes and carries it; and never 
complains, of either metal or measure. I saw, 
and laughed at it; and, by this open trick of 
hypocrisy, suspected more, more close. How 
could I choose? while, commonly, the least 
appears of that which is ; especially of that which 
is loathsome in appearance, much more in nature. 
At Namur, on a pleasant and steep hill-top, we 
found one, that was termed a married hermit; 
approving his wisdom above his fellows, that 
could make choice of so cheerful and sociable a 
solitariness. 

" Whence, after a delightful passage up the 
sweet river xMosa, # we visited the populous and 
rich clergy of Leodium.t The great city might 
well be dichotomized into cloisters and hospitals. 
If I might adventure, I could here play the critic; 
after all the ruins of my neglected philology. 
Old monuments, and after them our Lipsius, call 
this people Eburones. I doubt whether it should 
not rather be written Ebriones; yet, without 
search of any other records, save my own eyes : 



* The Maes. t Liege. 

D 2 



36 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



while yet I would those streets were most moist 
with wine, than with blood ; wherein no day, no 
night is not dismal to some. No law, no magis- 
trate lays hold on the known murderer, if himself 
list : for, three days after his fact, the gates are 
open, and justice shut : private violence may 
pursue him ; public justice cannot : whence, some 
of more hot temper carve themselves of revenge; 
others take up with a small pecuniary satisfaction. 
O England, thought I, happy for justice, happy 
for security! There, you shall find, in every 
corner, a maumet; at every door, a beggar; in 
every dish, a priest. 

" From thence we passed to the Spa, a village 
famous for her medicinal and mineral waters, 
compounded of iron and copperas; the virtue 
whereof yet the simple inhabitant ascribes to 
their beneficial Saint, whose heavy foot hath 
made an ill-shaped impression, in a stone of his 
Savenir;* a water more wholesome than plea- 
sant, and yet more famous than wholesome. 

" The wide deserts on which it borders, are 
haunted with three kinds of ill cattle ; freebooters, 
wolves, witches : although these two last are 
ofttimes one. For, that savage Ardenna is 
reputed to yield many of those monsters, whom 
the Greeks call AumvSpuwxs ; they, Lougarous ; we 



* The name of the upper well of the Spa. 



VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 37 

if you will, Witch-wolves : witches, that have put 
on the shape of those cruel beasts. We saw a 
boy there, whose half-face was devoured by one 
of them, near the village : yet so, as that the ear 
was rather cut, than bitten off. Not many days 
before our coming, at Limburgh,was executed one 
of those miscreants, who confessed, on the wheel, 
to have devoured two and forty children in that 
form. It would ask a large volume, to scan this 
problem of lycanthropy. The reasons, wherewith 
their relation furnished me, on both parts, would 
make an epistle tedious. This, in short, I 
resolved : a substantial change is above the reach 
of all infernal powers ; proper to the same hand^ 
that created the substance of both : herein the 
Devil plays the double sophister : yea, the sor_ 
cerer with sorcerers : he both deludes the witch's 
conceit, and the beholders' eyes. 

" One thing I may not omit, without sinful over- 
sight; a short, but memorable story, which the 
Greffier of that town, though of different religion, 
reported to more ears than ours. When the last 
Inquisition tyrannized in those parts, and helped 
to spend the faggots of Ardenna ; one of the rest, 
a confident confessor, being led far to his stake, 
sung psalms along the way, in a heavenly courage 
and victorious triumph. The cruel officer, envy- 
ing his last mirth, and grieving to see him merrier 
than his tormentors, commanded him silence : he 



38 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



sings still, as desirous to improve his last breath 
to the best : the view of his approaching glory, 
bred his joy ; his joy breaks forth into a cheerful 
confession. The enraged Sheriff causes his tongue, 
drawn forth to the length, to be cut off near the 
roots. Bloody wretch ! It had been good music, 
to have heard his shrieks ; but, to hear his music, 
was torment. The poor Martyr dies in silence, 
rests in peace. Not many months after, our 
butcherly officer had a son born with his tongue 
hanging down upon his chin, like a deer after 
long chase ; which never could be gathered up, 
within the bounds of his lips. O the divine hand, 
full of justice, full of revenge ! Go now, Lipsius, 
and write the new miracles of thy goddess ; and 
confirm superstition, by strange events. Judge, 
you that have seen, if ever the chapel of Halle or 
Ziehen have yielded ought more notable. 

"We met, every where, * pilgrims to those his 
Ladies : two Ladies, shall I call them ; or one 
Lady, in two shrines ? If two, why do they wor- 
ship but one ? If but one, why doth she that cure 
at Zichem, which at Halle she could not? Oh, 
what pity it is, that so high a wit should, in the 
last act, be subject to dotage ! All the masculine 



f Histoire et Miracles, &c. '* Que le 8. jour du moisde Sep- 
tembre au diet an. 1603, etant Feste de la Nativite de notrs 
Dame, le nombre de pelerins a ete environ 20000." Page 35. 



VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 39 

brood of that brain we cherished, and, if need 
were, admired: but these his silly virgins, the 
feeble issue of distempered age, who can abide ? 
One of his darlings, at Louan, # told me, from his 
own mouth, that the elderf of these two daugh- 
ters, was by him, in ten days, got, conceived, 
born, christened. I believed ; and wondered not. 
These acts of superstition have an invisible father 
and midwife: besides, that it is not for an ele- 
phant to go three years with a mouse. It was 
told me, in the shop of his Moretus, not without 
some indignation, that our king, when he had well 
viewed the book, and read some passages, threw 
it to the ground, with this censure : " Damnation 
to him, that made it ; and to him, that believes 
itf whether a true story, or one of their legends, 
I enquire not : I am sure, that sentence did not 
so much discontent them, as it joyed me. 

" Let me tell you yet, ere I take off my pen, 
two wonders more, which I saw in that wonder 
of cities, Antwerp. 

" One, a solemn mass in a shambles, and that 
on God's day : while the house was full of meat, 
of butchers, of buyers, some kneeling, others bar- 
gaining, most talking, all busy. It was strange, to 
see one house sacred to God and the belly ; and 
how those two services agreed. The priest did 



* Louvaine. t Virgo Hallens ; s. 



40 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



eat flesh, the butchers sold flesh ; in one roof, at 
one instant. The butcher killed, and sold it by 
pieces ; the priest did sacrifice, and orally devour 
it whole: whether was the more butcher? The 
like we might have seen at Malines 

" The other, an Englishman,* so madly devout, 
that he had wilfully mured up himself as an 
anchorite ; the worst of all prisoners : there sat 
he, pent up, for his further merit; half hunger- 
starved, for the charity of the citizens. It was 
worth seeing, how manly he could bite in his 
secret want ; and dissemble his over-late repent- 
ance. 1 cannot commend his mortification, if he 
wish to be in heaven, yea, in purgatory, to be 
delivered from thence. I durst not pity him ; 
because his durance was willing, and, as he hoped, 
meritorious : but, such encouragement as he had 
from me, such thank shall he have from God ; 
who, instead of an " Euge," which he looks for, 
shall angrily challenge him, with " Who required 
this?" I leave him now, in his own fetters ; you, 
to your worthy and honourable employments. 

" Pardon me this length. Loquacity is the 
natural fault of Travellers : while I profit any, I 
may well be forgiven." 



* One Goodwin, a Kentish-man. 



HIS REMOVAL FROM HALSTEAD. 4L 

The Bishop continues the " Account of him- 
self."— 

" After some year and half, it pleased God unex- 
pectedly to contrive the change of my station. 
" My means were but short at Halsted ; yet, 
such as I oft professed, if my then patron would 
have added but one ten pounds by year, which I 
held to be the value of my detained due, I should 
never have removed. One morning, as I lay in 
my bed, a strong motion was suddenly glanced 
into my thoughts of going to London. I arose, 
and betook me to the way. The ground, that 
appeared of that purpose, was to speak with my 
patron Sir Robert Drury ; if, by occasion of the 
public preachership of St. Edmund's-Bury then 
offered me on good conditions, I might draw him 
to a willing yieldance of that parcel of my due 
maintenance, which was kept back from my not 
over-deserving predecessor : who, hearing my 
errand, dissuaded me from so ungainful a change, 
which, had it been to my sensible advantage, he 
should have readily given way unto ; but not 
offering me the expected encouragement of my 
continuance. 

" With him I staid, and preached on the Sunday 
following. That day Sir Robert Drury, meeting 
with the Lord Denny, fell belike into the com- 
mendation of my sermon. That religious and 



42 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

noble Lord had long harboured good thoughts 
concerning me, on the reading of those poor 
pamphlets which I had formerly published ; and 
long wished the opportunity to know me. To 
please him in this desire, Sir Robert willed me to 
go and tender my service to his Lordship ; which 
I modestly and seriously deprecated : yet, on his 
earnest charge, went to his Lordship's gate; 
where I was not sorry to hear of his absence. 

" Being now full of cold and distemper in 
Drury-lane, I was found out by a friend, in 
whom I had formerly no great interest, one Mr. 
Gurrey, tutor to the Earl of Essex. He told me 
how well my Meditations were accepted at the 
Prince's court, # and earnestly advised me to step 
over to Richmond, and preach to his Highness. 
I strongly pleaded my indisposition of body, and 
my inpreparation for any such work ; together 
with my bashful fears, and utter unfitness for such 
a presence. My averseness doubled his impor- 
tunity: in fine, he left me not, till he had my 
engagement to preach the Sunday following at 
Richmond. He made way for me to that awful 
pulpit ; and encouraged me by the favour of his 
noble lord, the Earl of Essex. I preached. 
Through the favour of my God, that sermon was 



* Prince Henry. 



HIS REMOVAL FROM HALSTEAD. 



43 



not so well given as taken ; insomuch as that 
sweet prince signified his desire to hear me again 
the Tuesday following. Which done, that labor 
°;ave more contentment than the former: so as 
that gracious prince both gave me his hand and 
commanded me to his service. 

" My patron, seeing me, on my return to Lon- 
don, looked after by some great persons, began to 
wish me at home ; and told me, that some or other 
would be snatching me up. I answered, that it 
was in his power to prevent : would he be pleased 
to make my maintenance but so competent as in 
right it should be, I would never stir from him. 
Instead of condescending, it pleased him to 
fall into an expostulation of the rate of competen- 
cies ; affirming the variableness thereof, according 
to our own estimation, and our either raising or 
moderating the causes of our expenses. I shewed 
him the insufficiency of my means : that I was 
forced to write books to buy books. Shortly, 
some harsh and unpleasing answer so disheartened 
me, that I resolved to embrace the first oppor- 
tunity of my remove. 

" Now, while I was taken up with these anxious 
thoughts, a messenger (it was Sir Robert Wing- 
field of Northampton's son) came to me from the 
Lord Denny, now Earl of Norwich, my after 
most honorable patron, entreating me from his 
Lordship to speak with him. No sooner came I 



44 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



thither, than, after a glad and noble welcome, I 
was entertained with the earnest offer of Waltham. 
The conditions were, like the mover of them, free 
and bountiful. I received them, as from the 
munificent hand of God : and returned, full of the 
cheerful acknowledgments of a gracious provi- 
dence over me." 

The church of Waltham is neither rectory nor 
vicarage, but a curacy or donative, cum curd 
animarum, and, anciently had only a poor stipend 
of £8. a year pertaining to it, till by the pious 
bounty of Edward Earl of Norwich, £100. per 
annum, with other considerable accommodations, 
were settled upon the incumbent, and good lands 
tied for the true payment thereof.* 

How unwilling Mr. Hall was to be obliged to 
remove from Halstead ; and his feelings on the 
occasion, are particularly described in the follow- 
ing letter to Sir Robert Drury, and his lady, con- 
cerning his removal from them : 



* See Magna Britannia, vol. i, p. 655. Ed. 1720. 4to. Dr. 
Thomas Fuller, the Author of the Church History, History of 
Waltham Abbey, " Worthies," &c. &c. was collated to this 
donative by the Rt. Hon. John Have, Earl of Carlisle. Fuller, 
speaking of his predecessor Hali, says, " Here I must pay the 
tribute of my gratitude to his memory, as building upon his 
foundation, beholding myself as his great-grand-child in that 
place, three degrees from him in succession : but, Oh ! how 
many from him in ability !" Worthies, vol. i, p, 566. 4to, 
Ed. 1811. 



HIS REMOVAL FROM HALSTEAD. 45 

" With how unwilling a heart I leave you, He 
knows, that searches the heart : neither durst I 
go, but that 1 sensibly see his hand pulling me 
from you. Indeed, desire of competency betrayed 
me, at first ; and drew mine eyes to look aside : 
but, when I bent them upon the place, and saw 
the number and the need of the people, together 
with their hunger and applause, meeting with the 
circumstances of God's strange conveyance of 
this offer to me; I saw, that was but as the 
fowler's feather, to make me stoop: and, con- 
temning that respect of myself, I sincerely 
acknowledged higher motives of my yielding ; and 
resolved I might not resist. 

" You are dear to me, as a Charge to a Pastor : 
if my pains to you have not proved it, suspect me. 
Yet I leave you. God calls me to a greater 
work : I must follow him. It were more ease to 
me, to live secretly hidden in that quiet obscurity, 
as Saul amongst the stuff, than to be drawn out to 
the eye of the world ; to act so high a part, before 
a thousand witnesses. In this point, if I seem to 
neglect you, blame me not : I must neglect and 
forget myself. 

" I can but labour, wheresoever I am. God 
knows how willingly I do that ; whether there or 
here. I shall dig, and delve, and plant, in what 
ground soever my Master sets me. If he take 



46 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



me to a larger field, complain you not of loss, 
while the Church may gain. 

" But, you are my own charge: no wise father 
neglects his own, in compassion of the greater 
need of others : yet consider, that even careful 
parents, when the prince commands, leave their 
families, and go to warfare. 

" What if God had called me to heaven? would 
you have grudged my departure? Imagine that 
I am there, where 1 shall be; although the case 
be not to you altogether hopeless : for, now I 
may hear of you, visit you, renew my holy coun- 
sels, and be mutually comforted from you; there, 
none of these. He, that will once transpose me 
from earth to heaven, hath now chosen to trans- 
pose me from one piece of earth to another : what 
is here worthy of your sorrow; worthy of com- 
plaint? That should be for my own good: this 
shall be for the good of many. If your experi- 
ence have taught you, that my labours do promise 
profit; obtain of yourself to deny yourself so 
much, as to rejoice that the loss of a few should 
be the advantage of many souls. Though, why 
do I speak of loss ? 1 speak that, as your fear, 
not my own : and your affection causes that fear, 
rather than the occasion. 

" The God of the Harvest shall send you a 
labourer, more able ; as careful. That is my 
prayer, and hope, and shall be my joy. I dare 



COLLATED TO WALTHAM. 



47 



not leave, but in this expectation, this assurance. 
Whatever become of me, it shall be my greatest 
comfort to hear you commend your change ; and 
to see your happy progress in those ways, I have 
both shewed you, and beaten. So shall we meet 
in the end, and never part."* 

About the time' he was collated to Waltham 
Holy Cross, that is about the year 1612, he took 
his degree of Doctor in Divinity. He was also at 
this time a principal instrument in determining 
Thomas Sutton, Esq. the founder of the Charter- 
house, to purchase and erect that famous hospital. 
See his letter to Mr. Sutton in the 7th volume of 
his Works, p. 243, wherein he excites " him, and 
in him, all others, to early and cheerful benefi- 
cence, shewing the necessity and benefit of good 
works, "t 

He continues his own account. — " Too late 
now did my former noble patron relent; and 
offer me those terms, which had, before, fastened 
me for ever. 



* Bp. Hall's Works, vol. vii, p. 143. 

t Hern, in vit. Sutton 59. Thomas Sutton, Esq. purchased 
the dissolved Charter House, in 1611, for £ 13,000, and founded 
the hospital as it now stands, with an intention of being the 
first master, but died before its completion, Dec. 12, the same 
year. At his death, he was the richest commoner in the 
kingdom. 



48 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



" I returned home, happy in a new master, and 
in a new patron : betwixt whom I divided myself 
and my labors, with much comfort and no less 
acceptation." 

About the year 1610, Mr. Hall appeared a 
very able apologist for the Church of England 
against the Brownists, a sect then newly sprung 
up, and so denominated from one Robert Brown, a 
fiery, hot-headed person, who, about the year 
1580, and before, went about the country, inveigh- 
ing against the discipline and ceremonies of the 
church, and exhorting the people by no means to 
comply with them. He boasted that for his 
preaching against Bishops, ceremonies, &c. he 
had been committed to thirty-two prisons, in 
some of which he could not see his hand at noon- 
day. He and several of his followers left the 
kingdom, and settled at Middleburg in Zealand. 
There he formed a church according to his own 
model ; but his people began to quarrel so vio- 
lently, and divide into parties, that he returned to 
England in 1585. His father would not admit 
him into his house, saying, " that he would not 
own him for a son who would not own the Church 
of England for his mother. After rambling and 
preaching against the church up and down the 
country, he settled at Northampton. But here 



WRITINGS AGAINST THE RROWNISTS. 49 



his preaching was so offensive that he was cited 
before Dr. Linsdale, Bishop of Peterborough, 
who, upon refusing to appear, publicly excommu- 
nicated him for contempt. This made such an 
impression upon the mind of Brown, that he 
renounced his principles of separation, and having 
obtained absolution, he was about the year 1592, 
preferred to the rectory of a church near Oundle 
in Northamptonshire. According to Fuller, that 
far from the Sabbatarian strictness espoused by 
his followers, he was rather dissolute and a liber- 
tine; " in a word," continues our historian, " he 
Jiad a wife with whom he never lived, a church in 
which he never preached, and as all the other 
scenes of his life were stormy and turbulent, so 
was his end."* For being poor, and proud and 
very passionate, he struck the constable of his 
parish for demanding the payment of a rate ; and 
being beloved by no body, he was summoned 
before a magistrate Sir Rowland St. John, who 
committed him to Northampton goal. The 
decrepid old man not being able to walk, was 
carried thither upon a feather bed in a cart, where 
not long after he died, in 1630, in the 81st year 
of his age. The Brownists, though they pre- 
tended that they did not differ from the Church 
of England in any article of faith, yet so far 



» Fuller's Ch. Hist, ch.ix, p. 167. 

E 



50 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



dissented from it, as not to allow it to be a true 
church, nor its ministers to be rightly ordained. 
They maintained the discipline of the Church to 
be popish and anti-christian, and all her ordi- 
nances and sacraments invalid. Hence they 
renounced all communion with it in prayer, in 
hearing the word, or in any part of public 
worship. And they not only renounced com. 
m union with the Church of England, but with all 
others, except such as should be of their own 
model. So rigid and narrow they were in points 
of discipline. 

Mr. Hall, about the year 1608, wrote a Let- 
ter to Mr. John Smith and Mr. John Robinson, 
who separated from the Church, turned Brown - 
ists, and settled at Amsterdam as ringleaders * 
of the party there; in which letter he states 
the injury done by them to the church, the 
injustice of their cause, and fearfulness of their 
offence, censuring and advising them thus : — 

" We hear of your separation, and mourn ; yet 
not so much for you, as for your wrong." 



* Robinson, in his pamphlet, called, " an Answer to a Cen- 
sorious Epistle," seemed displeased at being called " a ringleader 
of the late separation Hall wittily retorts, " Perhaps I 
should have put him in the tail of this train. Perhaps I should 
have endorsed my letter to Mr. Smith and his Shadow." Apology 
against the Brownists, Works, vol. ix, p. 401. 



WRITINGS AGAINST THE BROWNISTS. 51 

" You could not do a greater injury to your 
mother, than to flee from her. Say, she were 
poor, ragged, weak ; say, she were deformed ; 
yet she is not infectious : or, if she were, yet she 
is yours. This were cause enough for you to 
lament her, to pray for her, to labour for her 
redress ; not to avoid her. This unnaturalness 
is shameful ; and more heinous in you, who are 
reported not parties in this evil, but authors. 
Your flight is not so much, as your misguidance. 

" Plead not: this fault is past excuse: if we all 
should follow you, this were the way of a Church, 
as you plead, imperfect, to make no Church ; 
and of a remedy, to make a disease. Still the 
fruit of our charity to you, is, besides our grief, 
pity. Your zeal of truth hath misled you, and 
you others: a zeal, if honest, yet blindfolded, 
and led by self-will. Oh, that you loved peace, 
but half so well as truth : then, this breach had 
never been : and you, that are yet brethren, had 
been still companions. 

" ' Go out of Babylon,' you say, ' the voice, 
not of schism, but of holiness.' Know you 
where you are ? Look about you, I beseech 
you : look behind you ; and see if we have not 
left it upon our backs. She herself feels, and 
sees, that she is abandoned : and complains to 
all the world, that we have not only forsaken, 
but spoiled her ; and yet you say, * Come out of 



52 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL, 



Babylon/ And except you will be willingly 
blind ; you may see the heaps of her altars, the 
ashes of her idols, the ruins of her monuments, 
the condemnation of her errors, the revenge of 
her abominations. 

"And are we yet in Babylon? Is Babylon 
yet amongst us ? Where are the main buildings 
of that accursed city : those high and proud 
towers, of their universal hierarchy; infallible 
judgment ; dispensation with laws of God, and 
sins of men ; disposition of kingdoms ; deposition 
of princes; parting stakes with God in our 
conversion, through freedom of will ; in our 
salvation, through the merit of our works? 
Where are those rotten heaps (rotten, not 
through age, but corruption) of transubstantiating 
of bread, adoring of images, multitude of sacra- 
ments, power of indulgences, necessity of con- 
fessions, profit of pilgrimages, constrained and 
approved ignorance, unknown devotions? Where 
are those deep vaults, if not mines, of penances 
and purgatories, and whatsoever hath been 
devised by those popelings, whether profitable 
or glorious, against the Lord and his Christ? 
Are they not all razed, and buried in the dust? 
Hath not the majesty of her gods, like as was 
done to Mythra and Serapis, been long ago 
offered to the public laughter of the vulgar? 



WRITINGS AGAINST THE BROWNISTS. 53 

What is this, but to go, yea to run, if not to fly, 
out of Babylon? 

" But, as every man is a hearty patron of his 
own actions, and it is a desperate cause that hath 
no plea, you allege our consorting in Ceremonies; 
and say, still we tarry in the suburbs. Grant 
that these were as ill, as an enemy can make 
them, or can pretend them : you are deceived, 
if you think the w T alls of Babylon stand upon 
Ceremonies. Substantial errors are both her 
foundation and frame. These ritual observations 
are not so much as tile and reed : rather like to 
some fane upon the roof; for ornament, more 
than use : not parts of the building ; but not 
necessary appendances. If you take them other- 
wise, you wrong the Church : if thus, and yet 
depart, you wrong it and yourself: as if you 
would have persuaded righteous Lot, not to stay 
in Zoar, because it was so near Sodom. I fear, 
if you had seen the money-changers in the 
Temple, however you would have prayed, or 
taught there: Christ did it; not forsaking the 
place, but scourging the offenders. And this is 
the valour of Christian Teachers, to oppose 
abuses, not to run away from them. Where 
shall you not thus find Babylon? Would you 
have run from Geneva, because of her wafers ? or, 
from Corinth, for her disordered love-feasts ? 



54 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



" Either run out of the world, or your flight is 
in vain. If experience of change teach you not, 
that you shall find your Babylon every where, 
return not. Compare the place you have left, 
with that you have chosen : let not fear of 
seeming to repent over-soon, make you partial. 
Lo there a common harbour of all opinions, of all 
heresies ; if not a mixture : here, you drew in 
the free and clear air of the Gospel, without 
that odious composition of Judaism, Arianism, 
Anabaptism : there, you live in the stench of 
these, and more. You are unworthy of pity, if 
you will approve your misery. Say, if you can, 
that the Church of England, (if she were not 
yours) is not a heaven, to Amsterdam. How is 
it then, that our gnats are harder to swallow, 
than their camels ? and that, while all Christen- 
dom magnifies our happiness and applauds it, 
your handful alone so detests our enormities, that 
you despise our graces ? 

" See, whether in this, you make not God a 
loser. The thank of all his favours is lost, 
because you want more : and in the mean time, 
who gains by this sequestration, but Rome and 
Hell? How do they insult in this advantage, 
that our mother's own children condemn her for 
unclean, that we are daily weakened by our 
divisions, that the rude multitude hath so palpa- 
ble a motive to distrust us? Sure, you intended it 



WRITINGS AGAINST THE BROWNISTS. 55 



not : but, if you had been their hired agent, you 
could not have done our enemies greater service. 
The God of Heaven open your eyes, that you 
may see the injustice of that zeal, which hath 
transported you ; and turn your heart to an 
endeavour of all Christian satisfaction : otherwise, 
your souls shall find too late, that it had been a 
thousand times better to swallow a Ceremony, 
than to rend a Church; yea, that even whore- 
doms and murders shall abide an easier answer, 
than separation. 

" I have done, if only I have advised you of 
that fearful threatening of the Wise Man : The 
eye, that mocketh his father, and despises the 
government of his mother, the ravens of the valley 
shall pick it out, and the young eagles eat it" 

Smith was a person of unsettled principles, 
and was for refining the Brownists' scheme. He 
advanced and maintained the doctrines of free- 
will and universal redemption, and similar tenets, 
afterwards espoused by Arminius.— We are also 
told that he entertained some extravagant notions, 
as the unlawfulness of reading the Scriptures in 
public worship — that no translation of the Bible 
was the word of God — that singing the praises 
of God in verses, or in set words, was without 
authority— that flight in time of persecution was 
unlawful — that the new creature needed not the 



5f> LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

support of Scripture and ordinances, but was 
above them — and that perfection was attainable 
in this life. # The consequence of such opinions 
caused a serious division among the Brownists. 
Smith declared for the principles of the Baptists, 
and gave a proof of the absurdity of his conduct, 
in performing the ceremony of baptism upon 
himself, on which account he was stigmatized by 
the name of se-baptist. Hall alludes to this 
when he speaks in his dedication before his 
" Apology against the Brownists," of one who 
had washed off the font ivater, as unclean ; and 
in Sec. 2, of the same Treatise, " he hath 
renounced our Christendom with our Church, 
and hath washed off his former water, with 
new." | 

Robinson was a beneficed clergyman near Yar- 
mouth, but seceded from the Church, embraced 
Broivnism, and settled in Holland. In reply to 
Hall's epistle, addressed to him and Smith, 
he wrote a pamphlet, called " An Answer 
to a censorious Epistle," in which the " blasphe- 
mous imputations of apostacy, antichristianism, 
whoredom, rebellion, &c." are cast upon the 
Church of England. This scurrilous pamphlet 



* Life of Ainsworth, p. 38. 
t Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, p. 384. 



PRINCE HENRY. 



57 



was the cause of Hall's writing his " Common 
Apology of the Church of England against the 
unjust Challenges of the over-just Sect, com- 
monly called Brownists." 

The Narrative continues. 

" In the second year of mine attendance on his 
Highness, when I came for my dismission from 
that monthly service, it pleased the Prince to 
command me a longer stay ; and, at last, upon mine 
allowed departure, by the mouth of Sir Thomas 
Chal loner, his governor, to tender unto me a 
motion of more honor and favour than 1 was 
worthy of : which was, that it was his Highness' 
pleasure and purpose, to have me continually 
resident at the court as a constant attendant, 
while the rest held on their wonted vicissitudes : 
for which purpose, his Highness would obtain for 
me such preferments as should yield me full con- 
tentment. I returned my humblest thanks, and 
my readiness to sacrifice myself to the service of 
so gracious a master; but, being conscious to 
myself of my unanswerableness to so great expec- 
tation, and loath to forsake so dear and noble a 
patron, who had placed much of his heart on me, 
I did modestly put it off, and held close to my 
Waltham : where, in a constant course, I preached 
a long time, as 1 had done also at Halstead 
before, thrice in the week ; yet never durst I 



58 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



climb into the pulpit to preach any sermon 
whereof I had not before, in my poor and plain 
fashion, penned every word in the same order 
wherein I hoped to deliver it; although, in the 
expression, I listed not to be a slave to syllables." 

Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I. died 
Nov. 6, 1612, aged eighteen years and eight 
months. It has been rumoured that his death 
was caused by poison, but his physicians declared 
to the contrary. Welwood says, that " it was 
the general rumour at that time, that this prince 
was poisoned. Whatever was in it, there is yet 
in print a sermon preached at St. James' upon the 
dissolution of his family, that boldly insinuated 
some such thing." * Now Hall preached a fare- 
well sermon to the household of Prince Henry, 
on the day of their dissolution at St. James', 
March 25, 1613, when the loss of such an excel- 
lent prince is pathetically lamented ;f but the 
writer of this work can find not the least insinua- 
tion alleged in this sermon that his death was 
occasioned by poison. Prince Henry was of a 
most amiable disposition, and excellent genius, 
exceedingly beloved whilst living, and greatly 
lamented after his death. He was one of the 



* Memoirs, p. 20. t Bishop Hall's Works, vol. v, p. 65. 



PREBENDARY OF WOLVERHAMPTON. 59 

most accomplished persons of his age, sober, 
chaste, temperate, full of honor and probity, and 
was never heard to swear. He was an ardent 
lover of piety and religion, and accordingly the 
lover of all good men.* Hall dedicated several of 
his works tQ this prince, and touches with grati- 
tude upon his kindness and virtues. Mr. (after- 
wards Sir) Adam Newton was the tutor of this 
prince, by whose instructions he is said to have 
greatly profited. In a letter of Dr. Joseph Hall 
to Mr. Newton, upon the prince being put under 
his tuition, there are some excellent rules and 
valuable maxims highly worthy of the attention 
of those who may have the charge of educating 
any of the branches of the royal family, f 

We return to the Bishop's Account. 

" In this while, my worthy kinsman, Mr. Samuel 
Barton, archdeacon of Gloucester, knowing in 
how good terms I stood at court, and pitying the 
miserable condition of his native church of 
Wolverhampton, was very desirous to engage me 
in so difficult and noble a service as the redemp- 
tion of that captivated church. For which cause 
he importuned me to move some of my friends to 



* See Harris's Life of James I. pp. 294-302. Neale's His- 
tory of the Puritans, vol. ii, pp. 94, 95. Ed. 1794. 

t Bishop Hall's Works, vol. vii, p. 126. 



60 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



solicit the Dean of Windsor, who by an ancient 
annexation is patron thereof, for the grant of a 
particular prebend, when it should fall vacant in 
that church. Answer was returned me, that it 
was fore-promised to one of my fellow-chaplains. 
I sat down, without further expectation. Some 
year or two after, hearing that it was become 
void, and meeting with that fellow-chaplain of 
mine, I wished him much joy of the prebend. He 
asked me if it were void : I assured him so ; and, 
telling him of the former answer, delivered to me 
in my ignorance of his engagement, wished him to 
hasten his possession of it. He delayed not. 
When he came to the Dean of Windsor for his 
promised dispatch, the Dean brought him forth 
a letter from the Prince, wherein he was desired 
and charged to reverse his former engagement, 
since that other chaplain was otherwise provided 
for: and to cast that favor on me. I was sent 
for, who least thought of it; and received the free 
collation of that poor dignity. It was not the 
value of the place, which was but nineteen nobles 
per annum, that we aimed at; but the freedom of 
a goodly church, consisting of a dean and eight 
prebendaries competently endowed, and many 
thousand souls lamentably swallowed up by wilful 
recusants, in a pretended fee-farm for ever. 

" O God, what a hand hadst thou in the car- 
riage of this work ! 



PREBENDARY OF WOLVERHAMPTON. 61 

" When we set foot in this suit (for another of 
the prebendaries joined with me) we knew not 
wherein to insist, nor where to ground a com- 
plaint : only we knew that a goodly patrimony 
was, by sacrilegious conveyance, detained from 
the church. But, in the pursuit of it, such mar- 
vellous light opened itself inexpectedly to us, in 
revealing of a counterfeit seal, found in the ashes 
of that burned house, of a false register ; in the 
manifestation of rasures and interpolations, and 
misdates of unjustifiable evidences ; that, after 
many years' suit, the wise and honorable Lord 
Chancellor Ellesmere, upon a full hearing, adjudged 
these two sued-for prebends, clearly to be returned 
to the church, until, by common law, they could, 
if possibly, be revicted. Our great adversary, 
Sir Walter Leveson, finding it but loss and trouble 
to struggle for litigious sheaves, came off to a 
peaceable composition with me of forty pounds 
per annum for my part, whereof ten should be to 
the discharge of my stall in that church, till the 
suit should by course of common law be deter- 
mined : we agreed on fair wars. The cause was 
heard at the King's Bench bar, where a special 
verdict was given for us. On the death of my 
partner in the suit, in whose name it had now 
been brought, it was renewed ; a jury empan- 
nelled in the county : the foreman, who had 
vowed he would carry it for Sir Walter Leveson 



62 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



howsoever, was, before the day, stricken mad y 
and so continued. We proceeded with the same 
success we formerly had. While we were thus 
striving, a word fell from my adversary, that gave 
me intimation, that a third dog would perhaps 
come in, and take the bone from us both : which 
I finding to drive at a supposed concealment, 
happily prevented ; for I presently addressed 
myself to his Majesty, with a petition for the 
renewing the charter of that church ; and the full 
establishment of the lands, rights, liberties, thereto 
belonging; which I easily obtained from those 
gracious hands. Now Sir Walter Leveson, seeing 
the patrimony of the church so fast and safely 
settled, and misdoubting what issue those his 
crazy evidences would find at the common law, 
began to incline to offers of peace; and at last 
drew him so far, as that he yielded to those two 
main conditions, not particularly for myself, but 
for the whole body of all those prebends which 
pertained to the church : first, that he would be 
content to cast up that fee-farm, which he had of 
all the patrimony of that church ; and, disclaiming 
it, receive that which he held of the said church 
by lease, from us the several prebendaries, for 
term, whether of years, or, which he rather 
desired, of lives ; secondly, that he would raise 
the maintenance of every prebend (whereof some 
were but forty shillings, others three pounds, 



PREBENDARY OF WOLVERHAMPTON. 63 



others four, &c.) to the yearly value of thirty 
pounds to each man, during the said term of his 
lease: only, for a monument of my labor and 
success herein, I required that my prebend might 
have the addition of ten pounds per annum above 
the fellows. We were busily treating of this happy 
match for that poor church : Sir Walter Leveson 
was not only willing, but forward: the then 
Dean, Mr. Antonius de Dominis, archbishop of 
Spalato,* gave both way and furtherance to the 
dispatch : all had been most happily ended, had 
not the scrupulousness of one or two of the 
number deferred so advantageous a conclusion. 
In the meanwhile, Sir Walter Leveson dies; 
leaves his young orphan ward to the King: all 
our hopes were now blown up; an office was 
found of all those lands ; the very wonted pay- 
ments were denied, and I called into the Court 
of Wards, in fair likelihood, to forego my former 
hold, and yielded possession. But there it was 



* See an excellent letter of Bishop Hall, in Latin, to this 
Archbishop, in vol. ix. of his Works, p. 214, upon the Arch- 
bishop's leaving the Church of England, to reconcile himself to 
that of Rome. This letter is remarkably expressive of Bishop 
Hall's piety, zeal, and integrity. The Archbishop left England 
with permission from King James, went to Rome, and was 
kindly entertained by Pope Gregory XV. After his death he 
was thrown into the inquisition, and died soon after, not without 
suspicion of poison. The day following, his body was tied to 
a stake, and burnt by the sentence of the inquisition. 

See Dr. Cosins' Hist, of Transubs. ed. 1676. 



<54 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



justly awarded by the Lord Treasurer, then 
Master of the Wards, that the orphan could have 
no more, no other right than the father: I was, 
therefore, left in my former state : only upon public 
complaint of the hard condition wherein the 
orphan was left, I suffered myself to be over- 
entreated, to abate somewhat of that evicted 
composition. Which work having once firmly 
settled, in a just pity of the mean provision, if not 
the destitution of so many thousand souls, and a 
desire and care to have them comfortably pro- 
vided for in the future, I resigned up the said 
prebend to a worthy preacher, Mr. Lee, who 
should constantly reside there, and painfully 
instruct that great and long neglected people : 
which he hath hitherto performed with great 
mutual contentment and happy success. 

" Now during this twenty-two years which I 
spent at Waltham, thrice was I commanded and 
employed abroad by his Majesty in public 
service. 

" First, in the attendance of the Rt. Honorable 
Earl of Carlisle, then Lord Viscount Doncaster, 
who was sent on a noble embassy with a gallant 
retinue into France: whose entertainment there, 
the annals of that nation will tell to posterity. 
In the midst of that service was I surprised with 
a miserable distemper of body ; which ended in 
a diarrhea biiiosa, not without some beginning 



PREBENDARY OF WOLVERHAMPTON. 65 

and farther threats of a dysentery : wherewith I 
was brought so low, that there seemed small 
hope of my recovery. Mr. Peter Moulin, to whom 
I was beholden for his frequent visitations, being 
sent by my Lord Ambassador to inform him of 
my estate, brought him so sad news thereof, as 
that he was much afflicted therewith ; well suppos- 
ing his welcome to Waltham could not but want 
much of the heart without me. Now the time of 
his return drew on, Dr. Moulin kindly offered to 
remove me, on his Lordship's departure, to his 
own house ; promising me all careful tendance. 
I thanked him ; but resolved, if I could but 
creep homewards, to put myself on the journey. 
A litter was provided ; but of so little ease, that 
Simeon's penitential lodging, or a malefactor's 
stocks, had been less penal. I crawled down 
from my close chamber into that carriage: In 
qua videbaris mihi efferri, tanquam in sandapild, 
as Mr. Moulin wrote to me afterward. That 
misery had I endured in all the long passage 
from Paris to Dieppe, being left alone to the surly 
muleteers, had not the providence of my good 
God brought ine to St. Germains, upon the very 
minute of the setting out of those coaches which 
had staid there upon that morning's entertainment 



* "In which you seemed tome to be carried, as if in a coffin." 



66 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



of my Lord Ambassador. How glad was I, that 
I might change my seat and my company! In 
the way, beyond all expectation, I began to 
gather some strength. Whether the fresh air or 
the desires of my home revived me, so much and 
so sudden reparation ensued, as was sensible to 
myself, and seemed strange to others. Being 
shipped at Dieppe, the sea used us hardly : and, 
after a night and a great part of the day following, 
sent us back well wind-beaten to that bleak 
haven whence we set forth, forcing us to a more 
pleasing land-passage, through the coasts of 
Normandy and Picardy : towards the end whereof 
my former complaint returned on me : and, 
landing with me, accompanied me to and at my 
long-desired home. In this my absence it pleased 
his Majesty graciously to confer on me the 
deanery of Worcester; which, being promised to 
me before my departure, was deeply hazarded 
while I was out of sight, by the importunity and 
underhand-working of some great ones. Dr. 
Field, the learned and worthy Dean of Gloucester, 
was by his potent friends put into such assur- 
ances of it, that I heard where he took care for 
the furnishing that ample house. But God 
fetched it about for me, in that absence and 
nescience of mine : and that reverend and better 
deserving divine was well satisfied with greater 



JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND. 



67 



hopes, and soon after exchanged this mortal 
estate for an immortal and glorious. 

" Before I could go down, through my continu- 
ing weakness, to take possession of that dignity, 
his Majesty pleased to design me to his attendance 
into Scotland ; where the great love and respect 
that I found, both from the ministers and people, 
wrought me no small envy from some of our own* 
Upon a commonly received supposition, that his 
Majesty would have no further use of his chap- 
lains after his remove from Edinburgh (forasmuch 
as the divines of the country, whereof there is 
great store and worthy choice, were allotted to 
every station,) I easily obtained, through the 
solicitation of my ever honoured Lord of Carlisle, 
to return with him before my fellows. No sooner 
was I gone, than suggestions were made to his 
Majesty of my over-plausible demeanor and doc- 
trine to that already prejudicate people : for which 
his Majesty, after a gracious acknowledgment of 
my good service there done, called me, upon his 
return, to a favourable and mild account; not 
more freely professing what informations had 
been given against me, than his own full satisfac- 
tion with my sincere and just answer ; as whose 
excellent wisdom well saw, that such winning 
carriage of mine could be no hinderance to those 



* See Bishop Hall's Works, vol. v, p. 102. 
F 2 



68 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



his great designs. At the same time his Majesty, 
having secret notice that a letter was coming to 
me from Mr. W. Struther, a reverend and learned 
divine of Edinburgh, concerning the Five Points 
then proposed and urged to the church of Scot- 
land, # was pleased to impose on me an earnest 
charge, to give him a full answer in satisfaction 
to those his modest doubts, and at large to 
declare my judgment concerning those required 
observations : which I speedily performed, with so 
great approbation of his Majesty, that it pleased 
him to command a transcript thereof, j" as I was 
informed, publicly read in their most famous 



* The Scots Ministers understanding that the king designed 
to bring about an uniformity between the churches of England 
and Scotland, appointed one Mr. William Struthers, a divine of 
Edinburgh, to preach against such a proceeding ; who, in his 
sermon in the principal Church of Edinburgh, not only con- 
demned the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, 
but prayed God to save Scotland from the same.* The fol- 
lowing five points or articles were then proposed and urged to 
the kirk, as a step towards producing uniformity. 

1. That the holy sacraments should be received kneeling. 2. 
That ministers were to administer the sacrament in private 
houses to the sick, if desired. 3. That ministers were to 
baptize children privately at home, in cases of necessity. 4. 
That ministers should bring such children of their parishes, as 
could say the Catechism, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the 
Ten Commandments, to the Bishop to be confirmed. 5. That 
the festivals of Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday, and the Ascen- 
sion, were to be commemorated in the Kirk of Scotland. 

f This famous Letter to Mr. Struthers is in vol. ix. of Bishop 
Hall's Works, p. 481-489. 

* Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 73. Ed. 1668. 



THE BOOK OF SPORTS. 



69 



university : the effect whereof his Majesty vouch- 
safed to signify afterwards unto some of my best 
friends, with allowance beyond my hopes. 1 ' 

The following year at an assembly convened at 
Perth, Aug. 25, 16 J 8, an Act was passed to 
admit those five Articles, which his Majesty 
had been courting the Scots for two years 
together to receive. The king, therefore ordered 
these articles to be read in all parish churches, 
and required the ministers to preach upon the 
lawfulness of them, and to exhort their people to 
Submission. And in order to give them a greater 
authority, they were ordered to be published at 
the market cross of the principal boroughs ; but 
this proved not sufficient to enforce conformity as 
was expected, so in the year 1621, it was enacted 
by an Act of Parliament that those articles 
should be observed ; which was certainly contrary 
to the sense of the kirk and the Scots nation. # 

The king's journey into Scotland was far from 
answering the end he had in view ; " the king," 
says Heylin, " gained nothing by that chargeable 
journey, but the neglect of his commands, and a 
contempt of his authority." 



* Crawford's Lives, p, 174. Harris's Life of James I. p. 280. 
Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 110. Heylins's Life of 
Laud, p. 74. 



70 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



His majesty, in his return from Scotland, in 
1617, passing through Lancashire, imagined that 
the strict observance of the Sabbath-day enjoined 
by the magistrates and clergy, tended to preju- 
dice the minds of papists against the strictness of 
the Church of England. Complaints being made 
to the king that the people were prohibited from 
all sorts of diversions and sports on the sabbath- 
day; wherefore in order to discourage Puritan- 
ism and to silence the objections of Papists, his 
Majesty published a declaration called " The 
Book of Sports," to encourage recreations and 
sports on the Lord's day ! 

It is said that this book of sports was drawn up 
by Bishop Morton ; it was dated, " Greenwich, 
May 24, 1618." The substance of it is the fol- 
lowing : " That for his good people's recreation, 
his Majesty's pleasure was, that after the end of 
divine service, they should not be disturbed, 
letted, or discouraged from any lawful recrea- 
tions ; such as dancing, either of men or women, 
archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any such 
harmless recreations; nor having of may-games, 
whitsun ales, or morris dances, or setting up of 
may poles, or other sports therewith used, so as 
the same may be had in due and convenient 
time, without impediment or let of divine service ; 
and that women should have leave to carry 
rushes to the church for the decorating of it, 



THE BOOK OF SPORTS. 



71 



according to their old customs ; withal prohibit- 
ing all unlawful games to be used on Sundays 
only, as bear -baiting, bull- baiting, interludes, and 
at all times (in the meaner sort of people pro- 
hibited) bowling." A restraint was annexed to 
this indulgence, that no papist or recusant was 
to have the benefit of this declaration ; nor such 
as were not present at the whole of divine ser- 
vice, nor such as did not keep to their own parish 
churches, i. e. puritans who probably frequented 
other churches, instead of that of their own parish, 
on account of the character of the several ministers. 
Now this royal declaration was not only an inlet 
for the gross violation of the divine command, 
" Remember to keep holy the sabbath day f but 
it tended to demoralize the people. It was con- 
trary to the king's proclamation in the first year 
of his reign, and to the articles of the Irish Church, 
ratified under the great seal, 1615, in which the 
morality of the Lord's day is affirmed.* But the 
Puritans, being the objects of his Majesty's aver- 
sion and hatred, by their preaching and practice, 



* Article 56. The first day of the week, which is the 
Lord's day, is wholly to be dedicated to the service of God, and 
therefore we are bound therein to rest from our common and 
daily business, and to bestow that leisure upon holy exercises, 
both public and private." 

See the Articles at large in Neal's History of the Puritans, 
vol. 5. Appendix iii. 



72 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



were inculcating the strict observance of the 
sabbath ; and therefore the fasts and festivals of 
the ( hurch were rather neglected, and in order to 
counteract this, his Majesty thought proper to 
command those idle and vain sports on the Lord's 
day; in order to prevent the growth of Puritanism 
and Popery ! or, in other words, to prevent the 
blessed effects of true religion in the minds of his 
subjects, and to encourage all vice and immo- 
rality ! 

This royal declaration was ordered to be read 
in all the parish churches of Lancashire, and was 
intended to be read in all the churches of 
England, but that Archbishop Abbot, being at 
Croydon, the day on which it was ordered to be 
read in the churches, expressly forbad it to be 
read there. Several of the bishops also and clergy 
declared their opinion against this book of sports. 
Most probably Dr. Hall disapproved of it highly, 
as he afterwards did when Bishop of Exeter; 
when he and several of the bishops would not urge 
the reading of it, when a second edition of it, revised 
and enlarged was set forth by royal authority in 
the ninth year of Charles the first. # 

The publishing of such a declaration, as it may 



* That Bishop Hall was an advocate for the morality of the 
sabbath, we may see in an account of the manner of his spend- 
ing it, in the 7th vol. of his Works, p. 256. 



THE BOOK OF SPORTS. 



73 



be well imagined, made a great noise : for it was 
certainly an imprudent project as well as a source 
of grief to all sincere protestants, and friends of 
religion. And had the k ng persisted in ordering 
it to be read publicly in all the churches, under 
the penalty of suffering from the high commission, 
it would probably have produced much greater 
convulsions than it did in the following reign, 
about fifteen years afterwards.* 

It is difficult to account for the distinction 
between lawful and unlawful sports on the Lord's 
day; if any sports are lawful, why not all? No 
reason can possibly be given why dancing, revels, 
wakes, may games, and such like, should be more 
lawful than bear or bull baiting, interludes, and 
bowls. The nature of both is immoral, for they 
have equal tendency to promote vice and immo- 
rality. The exceptions in his Majesty's declara- 
tion are truly extraordinary ; could the king 
believe that those who were puritanically inclined, 
or who went to other parish churches for their 
better edification, would now make use of the 
liberty of his declaration, when he must know 
that they conscientiously believed in the morality 
of the fourth commandment, and that no ordinance 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 500. Neal's 
Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 115. 



74 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



of man could make void the law of God ? His 
majesty also debars recusants, i. e. papists, from 
this liberty, which popery always had indulged 
them with ; but the Papist is now to turn Puritan, 
with regard to the sabbath, being forbidden the use 
of sports and recreations on the Lords day, in 
which he always indulged ; and protestants are to 
dance and revel on that sacred day to preserve 
them from Puritanism and Popery : how absurd, 
unreasonable, ungodly and profane was this book of 
sports of King James I. * When a second edition 
of it was set forth in the next reign, some further 
particulars and remarks concerning it will be 
given. 

In the year 1618, the troubles and disputes 
about religious matters began in Holland, between 
the Calvinists and Arminians, or, as they were 
also termed, remonstrants and conira-remonstrants. 
Their controversies were reduced to the following 
five points ; — election — redemption — original sin — 
effectual grace — and perseverance. In order to 
decide these difficulties, the States -General 
resolved to convene a national Synod at Dort. 



* Dr. Warner in his Eccles. Hist, of England, gives the follow- 
ing account of King James I. and his court — " It was said that 
the court gave a very ill example to the rest of the nation ; 
nothing was to be heard there but oaths and language bordering 
upon blasphemy, from which the king himself was not free." 
Vol. ii, p. 500, 



SYNOD OF DORT. 



75 



And in order to give the greater lustre and 
weight to their determination, they requested 
some foreign princes to send to them the assist- 
ance of their divines. King James I. was applied 
to for some English divines to be sent over, who 
was pleased to appoint George Carleton, D. D. 
Bishop of Landaff, Joseph Hall, D. D. then 
Dean of Worcester, John Davenant, D. D. Mar- 
garet Professor, and Master of Queen's College, 
Cambridge, Samuel Ward, D. D. Master of 
Sydney College, Cambridge, and Archdeacon 
of Taunton. * 

These divines, according to their summons, 
repaired to the King then at New Market, and 
received from him the following instructions 
relative to their conduct in the synod. 

1. " Our will and pleasure is, that from this 
time forward upon all occasions, you inure your- 
selves to the practice of the Latin tongue, that 
when there is cause, you may deliver your minds 
with more readiness and facility. 

2. " You shall, in all points to be debated and 
disputed, resolve amongst yourselves beforehand, 



* These four divines were distinguished " in their respective 
eminences:" "In Carletono preelucebat Episcopalis gravitas, 
in Davenantio subactum judicium ; in Wardo multa lectio : in 
Hallo expedita concionatio." Fuller's Worthies, vol. ii, p. 190, 
ed. 1811, 4to. 



7(3 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



what is the true state of the question, and jointly 
and uniformly agree thereupon. 

3. "If in debating of the cause by the learned 
men there, any thing be emergent, whereof you 
thought not before, you shall meet and consult 
thereupon again, and so resolve among yourselves 
jointly what is fit to be maintained. And this to 
be done agreeable to the Scriptures, and the 
doctrine of the Church of England. 

4. " Your advice shall be to those churches, 
that their ministers do not deliver in the pulpit to 
the people these things for ordinary doctrines, 
which are the highest points of the schools, and 
not fit for vulgar capacity, but disputable on both 
sides. 

5. " That they use no innovation in doctrine, 
but teach the same things which were taught 
twenty or thirty years past in their own churches, 
and especially that which contradicteth not their 
own confessions so long since published and 
known unto the world. 

6. " That they conform themselves to the 
public confessions of the neighbour reformed 
churches, with whom to hold good correspond- 
ency, shall be no dishonour to them. 

7. " That if there be main opposition between 
any who are over-much addicted to their own 
opinions, your endeavours shall be, that certain 



SYNOD OF DORT. 



77 



positions be moderately laid down, which may 
tend to the mitigation of heat on both sides. 

8. " That, as you principally look to God's 
glory, and the peace of those distracted churches, 
so you have an eye to our honour, who send and 
employ you thither ; and consequently at all 
times consult with our Ambassador there residing, 
who is best acquainted with the form of those 
countries, understandeth well the questions and 
differences among them, and shall from time 
receive our princely directions, as occasion shall 
require. 

9. " Finally, in all other things, which we 
cannot foresee, you shall carry yourselves with 
that advice, moderation, and discretion as to 
persons of your quality and gravity shall apper- 
tain." 

These divines, after having received his Majes- 
ty's instructions, prepared for the voyage; and 
the United States sent over a man of war to 
Gravesend, to convey them to Holland:* but 
accidentally they missed the man of war, and so 
were obliged to take their passage over in a small 



* " I have even now letters from the Admiralty at Rotterdam, 
that the ship, wherein I passed last into England, shall go pre- 
sently over to fetch those reverend persons his Majesty doth 
send to the Synod: and I do by this bearer appoint it to 
attend their commodity at Gravesend." Letters from and to 
Sir Dudley Carleton, 4to, p. 306. 



78 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



vessel, and safely landed Oct. 20, 1618, at Mid- 
dleburgh. # 

This famous Synod consisted of thirty-six 
ministers of the United States, and five professors, 
together with twenty elders : to these were added 
twenty-eight foreign divines. Mr. Balcanqual, a 
Scots divine, was deputed by his Majesty to 
represent the Kirk in the Synod. The ever- 
memorable John Hales also attended the Synod, 
not as a member, but was sent by Sir Dudley 
Carleton, the English Ambassador in Holland, to 
give him an account of what passed in the 
Synod, f 

The English divines being arrived at the Hague, 
were introduced to the Assembly of the States on 
the 5th of November, by the English Ambas- 
sador. They were received with every mark of 
distinction : and were allowed by the states, ten 
pounds sterling a day: " an entertainment," says 
Fuller, far larger than what was appointed to any 
other foreign Theologues; and politickly pro- 
portioned in grateful consideration of the great- 
ness of his Majesty who employed them. And 
these English divines, knowing themselves sent 
over not to gain wealth to themselves, but glory 



* Fuller's Ch. Hist. c. 10, p. 78. 

t Haie's Golden Remains, p. 454, 8vo. London, 1687. He 
was Chaplain to the Ambassador. 



SYNOD OF DORT. 



79 



to God, and reputation to their Sovereign, freely 
gave what they had freely received, keeping a 
table general, where any fashionable foreigner was 
courteously and plentifully entertained."* 

It has been said that this Synod was not con- 
ducted with impartiality ; and that its end and 
design was to condemn the Remonstrauts. The 
majority certainly were Calvinists, or Anti-remon- 
strants, and on that account, it may be that the 
Remonstrants had no fair play to defend them- 
selves, and were also not admitted to a free 
debate. 

When all the members of the Synod were 
assembled, the following Oath was taken by 
them in the 23d Session, each person standing 
up in his place, and laying his hand upon his 
heart : 

" I promise before God, whom I believe and 
worship, as here present, and as the searcher of 
the reins and heart, that during the whole course 
of the transactions of this Synod, in which there 
will be made an enquiry into, and judgment and 
decision of, not only the well-known five points, 
and all the difficulties resulting from thence, but 
likewise of all other sorts of doctrine, I will not 
make use of any kind of human writings, but only 



* Fuller's Ch. Hist. e. x, p. 79. 



80 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



of the word of God, as a sure and infallible rule of 
faith. Neither will I have any other thing in 
view throughout this whole discussion, but the 
honour of God, the peace of the church, and 
above all, the preservation of the purity of doc- 
trine. So keep me my Saviour Jesus Christ, 
whom I ardently beseech to assist me in this my 
design, by his Holy Spirit." 

John Goodwin, in his book termed Redemption 
Redeemed, p. 395, charges the contra-remonstrants 
with taking a previous oath to condemn the 
opposite party on what terms soever. This must 
have been an unjust insinuation. Fuller, the 
writer of the Church History, about the time such 
false reports were spread concerning the Synod, 
wrote to Dr. Hall, Bishop of Norwich, who was 
then alive, 1651, to ask the truth. The aged and 
venerable Bishop returned the following full and 
satisfactory reply : 

" Whereas you desire from me a just relation of 
the carriage of the business at the Synod of Dort, 
and the conditions required of our Divines there, 
at or before their admission to that grave and 
learned Assembly : I, whom God was pleased to 
employ, as an unworthy agent in that great work, 
and to reserve still upon earth, after all my 
reverend and worthy associates, do, as in the 
presence of that God, to whom I am now daily 
expecting to yield up my account, testify to you, 



SYNOD OF DORT. 



81 



and (if you will) to the world, that I cannot, 
without just indignation, read that slanderous 
imputation, which Mr. Goodwin, in his Redemp- 
tion Redeemed, reports to have been raised, and 
cast upon those Divines, eminent both for learn- 
ing and piety, " That they suffered themselves 
to be bound with an Oath, at, or before their 
admission into that Synod, to vote down the 
Remonstrants howsoever," so as they came 
deeply pregnated to the decision of those unhappy 
differences. 

" Truly, Sir, as I hope to be saved, all the Oath 
that was required was this : after that the Mode- 
rator, Assistants, and Scribes were chosen, aud 
the Synod formed, and the several members 
allowed, there w r as a solemn Oath required to be 
taken by every one of that Assembly, which was 
publicly done in a grave manner, by every person 
in their order, standing up, and laying his hand 
upon his heart, calling the great God of heaven to 
witness, that he would impartially proceed in 
the judgment of these controversies, which should 
be laid before him, only out of, and according to 
the written word of God, and no otherwise, so 
determining of them, as he should find in his 
conscience most agreeable to the Holy Scriptures, 
which Oath was punctually agreed to be thus 
taken by the Articles of the States, concerning 



82 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



the indiction, and ordering of the Synod, as 
appears plainly in their tenth Article; and this 
was all the Oath that was either taken, or 
required. And far was it from those holy 
souls, which are now glorious in heaven, or mine 
(who still for some short time survive, to give this 
just witness of our sincere integrity) to entertain 
the least thought of any so foul corruption, as by 
any over-ruling power to be swayed to a prejudg- 
ment in the points controverted. 

" It grieves my soul therefore to see, that any 
learned Divine should raise imaginary conjectures 
to himself, of an interest and obligation of a 
fancied Oath (working upon them, and drawing 
them contrary to the dictation of their own con- 
science, as it did Herod's in the case of John 
Baptist's beheading) merely out of his own com- 
parative construction of the different forms of 
expressing themselves in managing those contro- 
versies. Wherein if at any time they seemed to 
speak nearer to the Tenet of the Remonstrants, 
it must be imputed to their holy ingenuity, and 
gracious disposition to peace, and to no other 
sinister respect. 

" Sir, since I have lived to see so foul an asper- 
sion cast upon the memory of those worthy and 
eminent Divines, I bless God that I yet live to 
vindicate them, by this my knowing, clear, and 



SYNOD OF DORT, 



83 



assured attestation ; which I am ready to second 
with the solemnest Oath, if I shall be thereto 
required. 

Your much devoted friend, precessor, 
and fellow labourer, 

Higham, 

August so, 1651. JOSEPH HALL, B.N. 

Fuller makes the following pertinent remarks 
upon the above epistle: " Let the reader weigh 
in the balance of his judgment, how this purgation 
of the Synod of Dort is positive, and punctual, 
from one, an ear and eye witness thereof, being 
such an one as Dr. Hall, the aged; so that his 
testimonium herein, may seem testamentum : his 
witness his will, and the truth therein delivered, a 
legacy by him bequeathed to posterity. # 

After being at the Synod for about two 
months, Dr. Hall found that the air of Dort did 
not agree with him : the noise and unquietness of 
the place did also so disturb his rest, that he was 
reduced to great debility. The other English 
divines therefore wrote to the English Ambas- 
sador, Sir Dudley Carleton, that he desired leave 
to return to England, and they recommended in 
his room Dr. Goad, Chaplain to the Archbishop 



* Gh. Hist. b. x, p. 86. 

G 2 



84 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



of Canterbury ; they also requested his excellency 
to write to the Archbishop, to procure that favor 
from the King. But the Prince of Orange was 
not willing that Dr. Hall should return, he there- 
fore wished him to come to the Hague, to try 
whether change of air would do him good ; and 
in the mean time, if it would please the king to 
send Dr. Goad, and if Dr. Hall would recover 
his health, they might enjoy the benefit of the 
assistance of both. 

The assistance of the English divines in the 
transactions of the Synod was considerable and 
duly estimated. Upon several occasions they 
gave satisfactory proof of their abilities, suffi- 
ciency, and discretion. The other Foreign and 
Dutch divines were in a great measure guided by 
the English, so that they rather wished their 
number augmented than diminished : particularly 
they were very unwilling to spare Dr. Hall, who 
was highly respected and esteemed by them.* 

u By that time," continues the narrative, " I 
had staid some two months there, the unquietness 
of the nights in those garrison towns working 
on the tender disposition of my body, brought 
me to such weakness through want of rest, that 



* See Letters from and to Sir Dudley Carleton, 4to. 1775. 
Second Edition. 



SYNOD OF DORT. 



85 



it began to disable me from attending the 
Synod: which yet, as I might, 1 forced myself 
unto; as wishing that my zeal could have dis- 
countenanced my infirmity. Where, in the mean 
time, it is well worthy of my thankful remem- 
brance, that, being in an afflicted and languishing 
condition for a fortnight together, with that sleep- 
less distemper, yet it pleased God, the very night 
before I was to preach the Latin sermon to the 
Synod, to bestow on me such a comfortable 
refreshing of sufficient sleep, as whereby my 
spirits were revived, and I was enabled with much 
vigor and vivacity to perform that service : which 
was no sooner done, than my former complaint 
renewed on me, and prevailed against all the 
remedies that the counsel of physicians could 
advise me unto ; so as, after long strife, I was 
compelled to yield unto a retirement, for the time, 
to the Hague; to see if change of place and 
more careful attendance, which I had in the 
house of our Right Honorable Ambassador, the 
Lord Carleton, now Viscount Dorchester, might 
recover me. But when, notwithstanding all means, 
my weakness increased so far, as that there was 
small likelihood left of so much strength remaining 
as might bring me back into England, it pleased 
his gracious Majesty, by our noble Ambassador's 
solicitation, to call me off; and to substitute a 
worthy divine, Dr. Goade, in my unwilling for- 



86 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



saken room. Returning by Dort, I sent in my 
sad farewell to that grave assembly; who, by 
common vote, sent to me the president of the 
Synod and the assistants with a respective and 
gracious valediction. Neither did the deputies 
of my lords the States neglect, after a very 
respectful compliment sent from them to me by 
Daniel Heinsius, to visit me : and, after a noble 
acknowledgment of more good service from me 
than I durst own, dismissed me with a honour- 
able retribution; and sent after me a rich medal 
of gold* the portraiture of the Synod, for a pre- 
cious monument of their respects to my poor 
endeavours : who failed not, while I was at the 
Hague, to impart unto them my poor advice con- 
cerning the proceeding of that synodical meeting. 
The difficulties of my return, in such weakness, 
were many and great; wherein, if ever, God 
manifested his special providence to me, in over- 
ruling the cross accidents of that passage : and, 
after many dangers and despairs, contriving my 
safe arrival. y? 



* This medal, which the Bishop used to wear suspended on 
his breast, as appears by some of his portraitures, came into 
the possession of the family of Jermy, of Bayfield Hall, near 
Holt, in the County of Norfolk; and was bequeathed by 
William Jermy, Esq. at his death, which happened in January 
1750, (Gent. Magazine) to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. See 
Master's History of Bene't College, Cambridge, p. 367. 



SYNOD OF DORT. 



87 



It was on Nov. 29, 1618, being the sixteenth 
session of the Synod, that Dr. Hall preached 
his Latin Sermon before this famous assembly. 
But his disorder again recurred, which eventually 
obliged him to return to his native air. He 
preached from Eccles. vii, 16. Be not righteous 
overmuch, neither make thyself overwise. He 
observed, among many excellent things, that 
iC there were two sorts of theology, scholastic and 
popular, the one respects the foundation, the 
other the form and ornaments of the building : 
the one relates to the things, which ought to 
be known, the other to things which may be 
known: the knowledge of the one makes a 
christian ; of the other, a disputer. Or, the one 
makes a divine, the other polishes him. That if 
St. Paul should come into the world again, he 
would not understand the subtle disputes between 
the Jesuits and the Dominicans. That the 
Catechism of the Apostles consisted only of six 
articles : that the modern theology was like the 
quantity of Mathematicians, which is divisible in 
infinitum" He concluded with an earnest exhor- 
tation to peace and unanimity among christians : 
" study to be quiet," said he, Qixortfietriefi wuxaZm, 
" we are brethren, let us be fellow servants, 
what have we to do with the infamous title of 
remonstrants, and contra-remonstrants, of Calvin- 
ists and Armimans. We are christians, let us be 



88 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



like-minded, w4,»tfH. We are one body, let us be 
of one mind. I beseech you, brethren, by the tre- 
mendous name of God, by the pious and cher- 
ishing bosom of our common mother, (the church;) 
by your own souls, by the most holy bowels of 
our Saviour Jesus Christ, promote peace." For 
this excellent discourse, thanks were publicly 
given him ; and it was printed in the transactions 
of the Synod;* and it is for the first time printed 
apart in the Appendix to this volume. 

After being kindly taken care of, in the house 
of the English Ambassador for some weeks, Dr. 
Hall still continued very weak ; the king therefore 
granted him leave to return as soon as his strength 
would permit. When he so far recovered as to 
be able to be removed, he returned by Dort, and> 
" with a becoming gravity, publicly took his 
solemn farewell of the Synod" with the following 
Latin speech : 

" Non facile vero raecum in gratiam redierit 
cadaverosa haec moles, quam aegre usque cir- 
cumgesto, quae mihi hujus Conventus celebritatem 
toties inviderit, jamque prorsus invitissimum a 
vobis importune avocat, et divellit. Neque 
enim ullus est profectd sub ccelo locus aeque cceli 



* See Acta Sjnodi ^ationalis Dordrcch tonic, p, 38. ed. 
1620. fol. 



SYNOD OF DORT. 



89 



aemulus, et in quo tentorium mini figi maluerim, 
cujusque adeo gestiet mini animus meminisse. 
Beatos vero vos, quibus hoc frui datum ! non 
dignus eram ego (ut fidelissimi Romani querimo- 
niam imitari liceat) qui et Christi, et Ecclesiae suas 
nomine, sanctam hane provinciam diutius susti- 
nerem. Illud vero @es & yxvatri. Nempe audito, 
quod res erat, non alia me quam adversissima hie 
usum valetudine, Serenissimus Rex meus misertus 
miselli famuli sui, revocat me domum, quippe 
quod cineres rneos, aut sandapilum vobis nihil 
quicquam prodesse posse norit, succenturiavitque 
mihi virum b suis selectissimum, quantum Theo- 
logum. De me profecto (mero jam silicernio) 
quicquid fiat, viderit ille Deus meus, enjus ego 
totus sum. Vobis quidem ita feliciter prospectum 
est, ut sit cur infirmitati mese haud parum gratu- 
lemini, quam hujusmodiinstructissimo succedaneo 
coetum hunc vestrum beaverit. Neque tamen 
committam (si Deus mihi vitam, et vires indul- 
serit) ut et corpore simul, et animo abesse videar. 
Interea sane huic Synodo, ubicunque terrarum 
sum, et vobis, consiliis conatibnsque meis quibus- 
cunque, res vestras me, pro virili, seduld, ac seri6 
promoturum, sancte voveo. Interim vobis omni- 
bus, ac singulis, Honoratissimi Domini Delegati, 
Reverendissime Praeses, Gravissimi Assessores, 
Scribae doctissimi, Symmystae colendissimi, Tibi- 
que, Venerandissima Synodus universa, aegro 



90 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



animo ac corpore aeternum valedico. Rogo vos 
omnes obnixius, ut precibus vestris imbecillem 
reducem facere, comitari, prosequi velitis." 

The Synod continued from Nov. 13, 1618, to 
May 29, 1619. The English divines agreed in 
approving the Belgic confession of faith, and the 
Heidelberg Catechism. The five points of differ- 
ence between the Calvinists and Arminians were 
decided in favor of the former. Afterwards the 
remonstrant divines were dismissed the assembly, 
and banished the country within a limited time. 
The deprivations and banishments, which fol- 
lowed the decision of the Synod, of such eminent 
men, as Episcopius, Uytenbogart, Corvenus, &c. 
and the persecution, which ensued throughout 
the united states against the Arminians, greatly 
diminish the good opinion we might otherwise 
form of the Syno.d, and of its transactions. Many 
of the divines undoubtedly meant well ; but the 
mischief was, there were worldly views and state 
policy interwoven with its religious acts. # 

When the opinions of the British divines upon 
the extent of Christ's redemption were read, it 
was observed that they omitted the distinction 
between the sufficiency and efficacy of it; nor did 
they touch upon the limitation of those passages 



* See Harris's Life of James I, p. 152. 



SYNOD OF DORT. 



91 



of Scripture, which, speaking of Christ's dying, 
for the iv hole world, are frequently interpreted of 
the world of the elect. Dr. Davenant and some of 
his brethren inclined to the doctrine of universal 
redemption : he and Dr. Ward were for a middle 
way between the two extremes ; they maintained 
the certainty of the salvation of the elect, and that 
offers of pardon were sent not only to all who 
should believe and repent, but to all who hear 
the gospel ; and that grace sufficient to convince 
and persuade the impenitent (so as to lay the 
blame of their condemnation upon themselves) 
went along with these offers : that the redemption 
of Christ and his merits were applicable to these, 
and consequently there was a possibility of their 
salvation. They however complied with the 
Synod, and agreed to their confession, as in 
general agreeable to the word of God. But some 
years after, a report arose that they had deserted 
the doctrine of the Church of England, upon 
which Dr. Hall expressed his concern to Dr. 
Davenant in these words — " I will live and die in 
the suffrage of that Synod of Dort ; and I do 
confidently avow, that those other opinions (of 
Arminius) cannot stand with the doctrine of the 
Church of England." To which Dr. Davenant 
replied, " I know that no man can embrace 
Arminianism in the doctrines of predestination and 
gmce, but he must desert the articles agreed upon 



92 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



by the Church of England; nor in the point of 
perseverance, but he must vary from the received 
opinions of our best approved doctors in the 
English Church." 

The narrative continues : — 

" After not many years' settling at home, it 
grieved my soul to see our own church begin to 
sicken of the same disease which we had endea- 
voured to cure in our neighbors. Mr. Montague's 
tart and vehement assertions of some positions, 
near of kin to the remonstrants of Netherland, 
gave occasion of raising no small broil in the 
church. Sides were taken : pulpits every where 
rang of these opinions : but parliaments took 
notice of the division, and questioned the occa- 
sioned Now, as one that desired to do all good 
offices to our dear and common mother, I set my 
thoughts on work how so dangerous a quarrel 
might be happily composed : and, finding that 
mistaking was more guilty of this dissention than 
misbelieving (since it plainly appeared to me, that 
Mr. Montague meant to express, not Arminius, 
but B. Overall, a more moderate and safe author, 
however he sped in delivery of him,) I wrote a 
little project of pacification, wherein I desired to 
rectify the judgment of men concerning this 
mis-apprehended controversy ; showing them the 
true party in this unseasonable plea : and, because 



HIS VIA MEDIA. 



93 



B. Overall # went a midway betwixt the two 
opinions which he held extreme, and must needs 
therefore somewhat differ from the commonly- 
received tenet in these points, I gathered out of 
B. Overall on the one side, and out of our English 
divines at Dort on the other, such common pro- 
positions concerning these five busy articles as 
wherein both of them are fully agreed. All which 
being put together, seemed unto me to make up 
so sufficient a body of accorded truth, that all 
other questions moved hereabouts appeared 
merely superfluous ; and every moderate Chris- 
tian might find where to rest himself, without 
hazard of contradiction. These I made bold, by 
the hands of Dr. Young the worthy Dean of 
Winchester, to present to his excellent Majesty, 
together with an humble motion of a peaceable 
silence to be enjoined to both parts, in those 
other collateral and needless disquisitions : which, 
if they might benefit the schools of academical 
disputants, could not certainly sound well from 
the pulpits of popular auditories. Those recon- 
ciliatory papers fell under the eyes of some grave 
divines on both parts. Mr. Montague professed 
that he had seen them, and would subscribe to 



* He was one of the most profound school divines of the 
English nation. He was employed in the translation of the 
Bible ; and wrote the sacramental part of the Church Catechism. 



94 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



them very willingly : others, that were contrarily 
minded, both English, Scottish, and French 
divines, proferred their hands to a no less ready 
subscription. So as much peace promised to 
result, out of that weak and poor enterprise, had 
not the confused noise of the misconstructions of 
those who never saw the work, crying it down 
for the very name's sake, meeting with the royal 
edict of a general inhibition, buried it in a secure 
silence/' 

" I was scorched a little with this flame, which 
I desired to quench : yet this could not stay my 
hand from thrusting itself into a hotter fire." 

" Some insolent Romanists, Jesuits especially, 
in their bold disputations (which, in the time of the 
treaty of the Spanish match and the calm of that 
relaxation, were very frequent,) pressed nothing 
so much as a catalogue of the professors of our 
religion to be deduced from the primitive times ; 
and, with the peremptory challenge of the impos- 
sibility of this pedigree, dazzled the eyes of the 
simple : while some of our learned men, under- 
taking to satisfy so needless and unjust a demand, 
gave, as I conceived, great advantage to the 
adversary. In a just indignation to see us thus 
wronged by misstating the question betwixt us, as 
if we, yielding ourselves of another church, origi- 
nally and fundamentally different, should make 
good our own erection on the ruins, yea, the 



AGAINST THE PAPISTS. 



95 



nullity of theirs ; and well considering the infinite 
and great inconveniences, that must needs follow 
on this defence ; I adventured to set my pen on 
work ; desiring to rectify the opinions of those 
men, whom an ignorant zeal had transported, to 
the prejudice of our holy cause : laying forth the 
damnable corruptions of the Roman church, yet 
making our game of the outward visibility 
thereof ; and, by this means, putting them to the 
probation of those newly-obtruded corruptions, 
which are truly guilty of the breach betwixt us. 
The drift whereof being not well conceived by 
some spirits that were not so wise as fervent, I 
was suddenly exposed to the rash censures of 
many well-affected and zealous Protestants ; as if 
I had, in a remission to my wonted zeal to the 
truth, attributed too much to the Roman church, 
and strengthened the adversaries' hands, and 
weakened our own. This envy I was fain to take 
off, by my speedy Apologetical Advertisement; 
and, after that, by my Reconciler, seconded with 
the unanimous letters of such reverend, learned, 
sound divines, # both bishops and doctors, as 
whose undoubtable authority was able to bear 
down calumny itself : which done, I did, by a 
seasonable moderation, provide for the peace 



* B. Morton, B. Davenant, Dr. Prideaux, Dr. Primrose. 



96 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



of the church, in silencing both niy defendants 
and challengers, in this unkind and ill-raised 
quarrel." 

To this hasty sketch of the Bishop's, some 
further particulars may be added. 

Popery at this time was gaining ground in many 
places ; a book was published by a papist, enti- 
tled, A New Gag for the Old Gospel, which 
Mr. Richard Montague, Rector of Stamford - 
Rivers in Essex, undertook to answer in the year 
1623, by a book, called, A New Gag for an Old 
Goose. This reply gave a great offence to many 
of the clergy. It was written in a satyrical 
manner, for Mr. Montague's ink was generally 
mingled with much gall : and its tendency was, 
in a great measure, to promote Popery and 
Arminianism. This book occasioned much noise, 
and " no small broil in the church." Two divines 
of the diocese of Norwich, Mr. Ward and Mr. 
Gates, undertook to extract the Popish and 
Arminian tenets out of it, in order to lay them 
before Parliament; and the charge of propagating 
Popish and Arminian errors, and of deserting 
instead of defending the cause of the church, was 
made to Parliament against Mr. Montague. He 
was therefore examined at the bar of the house, 
and referred to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
who expressly prohibited him to write any more 



Montague's writings. 



97 



on such subjects. But the king openly protected 
him, and approved of his sentiments. Being thus 
encouraged by his Majesty, Mr. Montague wrote a 
vindication of himself in a work, intitled, Appello 
C(Esarem ; or Appeal to Ccesar, and designed 
it for King James ; but he died before the book 
was published, it was therefore dedicated to 
Charles I, This appeal was calculated to attempt 
a reconciliation with Rome, to promote Arminian- 
ism, and to advance the king's prerogative above 
law. The house appointed a committee to 
examine into its errors ; — afterwards they voted it 
contrary to the articles of the Church of England, 
and bound the author in a recognizance of £2000 
for his appearance. # 

Dr. Laud, then Bishop of St. David's, and the 
Bishops of Rochester and Oxford, joined in a 
letter j" to the Duke of Buckingham, to prevail on 
his Majesty to take the cause of Mr. Montague 
into his own hands. This letter had its desired 
effect, and procured quietness to him. His 
Majesty declared he would bring the cause before 
the council, it being a branch of his supremacy to 
determine matters of religion. He expressed his 



* Neale's History of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 161. 

t See the Letter in Heylin's Life of Archbishop Laud, pp, 
136, 137, 

H 



98 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



displeasure against the commons for calling his 
chaplain to their bar. 

King James I. died March 27> 1625, in the 
59th year of his age. " The Church of England/' 
says Harris, " under James, was in a happy 
state, being highly praised, protected, and favoured 
by him."* Dr. Hall, in a sermon preached to his 
Majesty, at the court of Whitehall, Aug. 8, 1624, 
says, " England was once, yea, lately was, per- 
haps is still, the most flourishing church under 
heaven ; that I may take up the prophet's words; 
the glory of churches, the beauty of excellency. 
Isa. xiii, 19. But sectaries were then increasing, 
and threatening to disturb the peace and unity of 
the church ; that he farther says, " what it may 
be, what it will be, if we fall still into distractions 
and various sects, God knows, and it is not hard 
for men to foresee. Surely, if we grow into that 
anarchical fashion of independent congregations, 
which I see, and lament to see, affected by too 
many, not without woeful success ; we are gone, 
we are lost, in a most miserable confusion : we 
shall be, as when God overthrew Sodom and 
Gomorrah ; and it shall be with us, as the prophet 
speaks of proud and glorious Babylon, the shep- 
herds shall not make their fold there : wild beasts 



* Life of James I. pp. 267, &c. 



PANEGYRICS ON JAMES I. 



99 



of the desert shall lie there, and our houses shall be 
full of doleful Creatures ; and owls shall dwell, and 
satyrs shall dance there ; and the wild beasts of the 
islands shall cry in our desolate palaces. Isa. xiii, 
20, 21. I take no pleasure, God knows, to omi- 
nate ill to ray dear nation, and my dear mother 
the Church of England ; for whose welfare and 
happiness I could contemn my own life : but I 
speak in a true sorrow of heart to perceive our 
danger, and in a zealous precaution to prevent 
it." # Dr. Hall lived to see this prediction 
fully accomplished, as it will be seen in the 
subsequent pages of this volume, and as he 
himself with his own pen has narrated in his 
tt Account of Himself, " and in his " Hard 
Measure." 

It was one of the errors of the times in which 
Dr. Hall lived, to heap the most fulsome flattery 
upon the sovereign, and great personages : and 
it must be recorded that Hall has fallen, 
as well as his contemporaries, into this then 
fashionable error. His sermon, entitled, " a holy 
panegyric," preached at Paul's Cross, upon the 
anniversary of the inauguration of James I, March 
24, 1613, is full of gross adulation, though in 
other respects an excellent and elegant discourse. 



See Bishop Hall's Works, vol. v, p. 236. 
H 2 



100 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



The same adulatory taint is perceivable here and 
there in some other parts of Dr. Halls writings. 
But, that the reader may have a full specimen of 
this error of the times, we shall here subjoin, as a 
great curiosity, the funeral sermon of King James 
I. preached by Dr. Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, 
and Lord Keeper. The sermon is intitled, 
great Britain's solomon, and is full of the 
most gross flattery, and palpable untruths. The 
text was I Kings xi, 41, 42, 43, And the rest of 
the words of Solomon, and all that he did, and his 
tvisdom, are they not ivritien in the book of the acts 
of Solomon ? And the time that Solomon reigned in 
Jerusalem over all Israel teas forty years. And 
Solomon slept ivith his fathers, and was buried in 
the city of David his father. After having men- 
tioned the text, the preacher begins thus : " Most 
high and mighty, most honourable, worshipful 
and well-beloved in our Lord, and Saviour Jesus 
Christ ; it is not I, but this woeful accident that 
chuseth this text." He proceeds then to consider 
it as applicable to Solomon ; and afterwards com- 
pares him and James, " first as it were in one 
general lump, or mould," says he, " that you may 
see by the oddness of their proportion, how they 
differ from all kings besides. And then with a 
particular examination of the parts of my text, 
that you may observe by the several members, 
how well they resemble the one the other. 



PANEGYRICS ON JAMES I. 101 

" For the bulke or the mould, I dare presume 
to say, you never read in your lives, of two kings 
more fully paralelled amongst themselves, and 
better distinguished from all other kings besides 
themselves. King Solomon is said to be unigeni- 
tus coram matre sua, the only son of his mother, 
Prov. iv, 3. So was king James. Solomon was 
of a complexion w T hite and ruddy, Cant, v, 10. 
So was King James. Solomon was an infant 
king, puer parvulus, a little child, 1 Chron. xxii, 5. 
So was King James, a king at the age of thirteen 
months. Solomon began his reign in the life of 
his predecessor, 1 Kings i, 32. So, by the force 
and compulsion of that state, did our late sovereign 
King James. Solomon was twice crowned, and 
anointed a king, 1 Chron. xxix, 22. So was King 
James. Solomon's minority was rough through 
the quarrels of the former sovereign. So was that 
of King James. Solomon was learned above all 
the princes of the east, 1 Kings iv, 30. So was 
King James above all the princes in the universal 
world. Solomon was a writer in prose and verse, 
1 Kings iv, 32. So in a very pure and exquisite 
manner was our sweet sovereign King James. 
Solomon was the greatest patron we ever heard 
of, to church and churchmen ; and yet no greater 
flet the house of Aaron now confess) than King 
James. Solomon was a main improver of his 
home commodities, as you may see in his trading 



*102 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

with Hiram, 1 Kings v, 9 ; and, God knows it 
was the daily study of King James. Solomon 
was a great maintainer of shipping and navigation, 
1 Kings x, 14; a most proper attribute to King 
James. Solomon beautified very much his capital 
city, with buildings and water- works, 1 Kings ix, 
15. So did King James. Every man lived in 
peace under his vine, and his fig-tree, in the days 
of Solomon, 1 Kings iv, 25 ; and so they did in the 
blessed days of King James. And yet towards 
his end, King Solomon had secret enemies, Razan, 
Hadad, and Jeroboam, and prepared for a war 
upon his going to his grave. So had, and so did 
King James. Lastly, before any hostile act we 
read of in the history, King Solomon died in 
peace, when he had lived about sixty years, and 
so you know did King James." 

The preacher proceeds according to the method 
of his text, " to polish and refine the members of 
this statue in their division and particulars." " In 
his stile," says he, " you may observe the Eccle- 
siastes, in his figures the Canticles, in his sen- 
tences the Proverbs, and in his whole discourse, 
reliquum verborum Solomonis, all the rest that was 
admirable in the eloquence of Solomon. From 
his sayings, I come to his doings. Quce fecerit, 
all that he did. Every action of his sacred 
majesty was a virtue, and a miracle to exempt 
him from any parallel amongst the modern kings 



PANEGYRICS ON JAMES I. 



103 



and princes. Of all christian kings that ever I 
read of, he was the most constant patron of 
churches and churchmen. I will speak it boldly, 
in the presence here of God and men, that I 
believe in my soul and conscience, there never 
lived a more constant, resolute, and settled pro- 
testant in point of doctrine, than our late sove- 
reign. Through all Europe, no more question 
was made of his being just, than of his being 
king. He was resolute enough, and somewhat 
too forward in those unapproachable places, (the 
Highlands,) scattering his enemies as much with 
his example, as he did with his forces. Besides 
these adventures of his person, he was unto his 
people, to the hour of his death, another cheru- 
bim with a flaming sword, to keep out enemies 
from this paradise of ours." 

After flourishing upon his political wisdom and 
learned works, he goes on to let his hearers 
know, " that as he lived like a king, so he died 
like a saint. All his latter days he spent in 
prayer, sending his thoughts before into heaven, 
to be the harbingers of his happy soul. Some four 
days before his end, he desired to receive the 
blessed sacrament, and said he was prepared for 
it by faith and charity. He repeated the articles 
of the creed, and after the absolution had been 
read and pronounced, he received the sacrament 
with that zeal and devotion, as if he had not been 



104 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



a frail man, but a cherubim clothed with flesh 
and blood, he twice or thrice repeated Domine 
Jesu, veni cito ; and after the prayer usually said 
at the hour of death was ended, his lords and 
servants kneeling, without any pangs or convul- 
sions at all, dormivit Solomon, Solomon slept. 
And his soul, severed from the dregs of the body, 
doth now enjoy an eternal dreaming in the pre- 
sence of God, environed no more with lords and 
knights, but with troops of Angels, and the souls 
of the blessed, called in this text his fore-runners 
or fathers ; and Solomon slept with his fathers"* 

This was the character given of King James I. 
before an auditory, who must have know^n him 
well: — «very reader must think it nothing else 
but a panegyrical harangue, full of adulation and 
exaggeration. 

At the convocation cotemporary with the par- 
liament in the year 1623-4, Feb. 20, Dr. Hall 
preached a Latin Sermon in St. Paul's cathedral. 
The title of the sermon is Noah's dove bringing 
an olive of peace to the tossed Ark of Chris fs 
church. The text is 1 Cor. xii, 4. There are 
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit ; there are 
diversities of ministers, but the same Lord ; and 
there are diversities of operations, but the same God. 



* Harris's Life of James I. pp. 288-291. 



SERMONS. 



105 



This sermon was composed and written in 
elegant and pure Latin, and was translated into 
English by Dr. Hall's eldest son, Robert : " it 
pleased my father," says the son, herein to 
improve my leisure; wherein howsoever I may 
have somewhat failed of the first elegance, yet I 
have not been far short of the sense." Prefixed 
to this sermon are some commendatory Latin 
verses, by Dr. Goad, chaplain to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, # 

On St. Stephen's day, 1623, Dr. Hall preached 
from Hag. ii, 9, " at the solemn reconciling" of 
the restored and re-edified chapel of St. Johns in 
the house of the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Exeter in 
Clerkeuwell. This chapel was repaired by Lady 
Elizabeth Drury, Countess of Exeter, to whom 
Dr. Hall dedicated his sermon on the occasion, 
and to whose family of the Drurys he was 
indebted for his first patronage.* 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. v, p. 148. 

* This chapel was on the site of the ruined choir of the 
Priory of St. John of Jerusalem ; " a place," says Fuller, in his 
Ch. Hist. b. vi, pp. 357, 360, " in a pitiful plight, when the 
hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem were first restored by 
Queen Mary; for the bell tower of the church was undermined 
and blown up with gun-powder, that the stones thereof might 
build Somerset-house in the Strand." 

Jordan Bisset, a pious and wealthy man, who died Nov. 15, 
1110, and was buried in the Chapter House of this Priory, was 
the founder of it. He built an house for the Knight's Hospi- 



106 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL, 



"When the parliament met, Feb. 6, 1626, a 
committee of religion was appointed, of which 
Mr. Pym was the chairman, with the view of 
examining once more Mr. Montague's Gag, 
Appeal, and his Treatise of the Invocation of the 
Saints ; out of these works they collected several 
opinions contrary to the articles and homilies of 
the church. But after all, Mr. Montague was not 
brought to his trial ; King Charles I. intimated his 
displeasure at the proceedings of the commons, 



talers of St. John of Jerusalem, which was improved into the 
stateliness of a palace, and had a very beautiful church with a 
high tower so neatly carried up, that while it stood, it was a 
singular ornament to the city. The Knight's Hospitalers of 
St. John of Jerusalem, were instituted about the time Geoffrey 
of Boulogne had recovered Jerusalem. They wore a white 
cross upon their upper black garment, and by solemn profession 
were bound to serve pilgrims and poor people in the hospital 
of St. John, and to secure the passages thither: they charitably 
buried the dead, were continual in prayer, mortified themselves 
with watchings and fastings, were courteous and kind to the 
poor, whom they called their masters, and fed with white 
bread, while they lived themselves on brown, and practised 
great austerity. At first they were but poor ; for their piety 
and bravery in war, their condition was much changed through 
the bounty of good princes and private persons, that they 
became to abound in every thing. For about the year 1240 
they had nineteen thousand Lordships or Manors within Chris- 
tendom, as the Templars had nine thousand, whose revenues 
here in England fell also afterwards to the Hospitalers. This 
vast increase of revenues made them so effectual a passage to 
great honors, that their Prior was reckoned the first Baron of 
England, and lived in great state and plenty, till the dissolution 
of religious houses by Henry VIII. See Camden's Britannia, 
p. 321-2, fol. ed. 1695, and " Magna Britannia," vol. iii, p. 58, 
ed. 1724. 



Montague's writings. 



107 



and that he would take the cause into his own 
hands. Many books were written against Mr. 
Montague, by Dr. Carleton, Bishop of Chichester, 
Dr. Sutliffe, Dean of Exeter, Dr. Featley, and 
many others. After all, the differences were 
rather increased than diminished. The points of 
controversy became so much the subject of public 
discussion, that his Majesty issued a proclama- 
tion, prohibiting to preach or dispute upon the 
points in controversy between the Calvinists and 
Arminians, and threatening to proceed against all 
who should maintain any opinions contrary to the 
doctrines established by law. 

The Church of England was now sick of the 
Belgic disease: " I mean," says Dr. Hall, " the 
distemper arising from the difference about the 
five controverted Articles of the Netherlands. 
The pulpits and presses laboured of it, in much 
extremity : it pleased wise and judicious sove- 
reignty, upon knowledge of the woeful effects 
which had followed those unhappy controversies 
abroad, to give charge, that those questions 
should not be further stirred in, whether in 
sermons or writings; and the articles of the 
Church of England should be the just limits of all 
our public discourse in this kind." It appears 
that this royal declaration had a good effect, for 
he proceeds to say, " and what a calm followed 



108 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



upon this prudent declaration, our fresh memory 
can abundantly testify." # 

Dr. Hall was inclined to be moderate in the 
controverted five points. During' the broils and 
disputes about the dogmas of Calvin and Armi- 
nius at the end of James l.s reign, and the com- 
mencement of that of Charles I. Dr. Hall wrote 
and published his treatise upon the subject, under 
the title of Via Media, the way of peace. This 
excellent tractate was published in the reign of 
King James, and probably previous to his 
Majesty's injunctions, set forth in August 1622, 
against meddling with the controverted points, as 
it appears from the dedication " to the king's 
most excellent majesty," prefixed to Via Media, 
where the author implores his " Majesty's season- 
able prevention," of the impending storm. " I 
see," says he, " every man ready to rank himself 
unto a side, and to draw in the quarrel he atTect- 
eth; I see no man thrusting himself between 
them, and either holding or joining their hands 
for peace." The design of Dr. Hall in this trea- 
tise, is to attempt pacifying and healing the violent 
and extreme dissentions, which then so greatly 
disturbed the peace of the church. It evinces the 
" excellent moderation" of Dr. Hall " in those 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. viii, p. 97. 



» 



HIS VIA MEDIA. 



109 



unhappy disputes. He here collects from the 
writings of Bishop Overall on the one side, and 
of the English divines at the Synod of Dort on 
the other side, such propositions or arguments 
respecting the five controversial points, upon 
which both sides agree. This 4 'collection of 
accorded truths,*' he presented to his Majesty, 
" together with an humble motion of a peaceable 
silence to be enjoined to both parts, in those 
other collateral and needless disquisitions." Many 
divines, and even Mr. Montague himself, offered 
readily to subscribe them ; so that peace would 
have been likely to be obtained, " had not the 
confused noise of the misconstruction of those 
who never saw the work, crying it down for the 
very names sake" and his Majesty's prohibition 
above mentioned, " buried it in a secure silence." 

This admirable tractate breathes the very sen- 
timents of our church, and is well adapted to 
allay the disputes about the .Arminian and Cal- 
vinistic points, which have too much disturbed 
the peace of the religious world to this very day. 
With respect to the controverted points, Dr. Hall 
says, " what place soever these differences have 
found in foreign schools and pulpits, ours have 
reason to be free : if we shall listen to that wise 
and moderate voice of our church, that men are 
so stirred and moved by grace that they may, if 
they attend thereunto, obey the grace, which 



110 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



calleth and moveth them ; and that they may, by 
their free will also resist it; but, withal that God, 
when he will, and to whom he will, gives such an 
abundant, such powerful, such congruous, other- 
wise effectual grace, that, although the will may 
in respect of the liberty thereof resist; yet it 
resists not, but cloth certainly and infallibly obey; 
and that thus God deals with those, whom he 
hath chosen in Christ, so far as shall be necessary 
to their salvation." And, again, " my brethren," 
says he, " let our care be to study and to preach 
Christ and him crucified : to work the souls of 
men to faith, repentance, piety, justice, charity ? 
temperance, and other heavenly virtues ; that they 
may find cordial testimonies in themselves, of their 
happy predestination to life, and their infallible 
interest in the precious blood of their redeemer. 
Let us beat down those sins in them, which make 
them obnoxious to everlasting damnation, and 
strip them of all comfortable assurances of the 
favor of God. Let us not undiscreetly spend our 
time and pains, in distracting their thoughts with 
those scholastic disquisitions, whereof the know- 
ledge or ignorance makes nothing to heaven. 
The way to blessedness is not so short, that we 
should find leisure to make outroads into needless 
and unprofitable speculations. Never treatise 
could be more necessary, in this curious and 
quarrelsome age, than De paucitate credendornm. 



HIS VIA MEDIA. 



Ill 



The infinite subdivisions of those points, which we 
advance to the honour of being the objects of our 
belief, confound our thoughts and mar our peace. 
Peaceable discourse may have much latitude, but 
matter of faith should have narrow bounds. If, 
in the other, men will abound in their own sense, 
always let unity of spirit he held in the bond of 
peace. Since God hath given us change of 
raiment and variety of all intellectual provisions, 
as Joseph said to his brethren, let me to mine, 
Let us not fall out by the way. Now, by the dear 
bonds of brotherhood, by our love to our common 
mother, the church, by our holy care and zeal of 
the prosperous success of the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus, let us all compose our hearts to peace; 
and rest ourselves in those common truths, which 
sober minds shall find abundantly sufficient, 
whether for our knowledge or salvation." * 



* See this excellent Tractate, called Via Media, in vol. ix. of 
the Bishop's Works. 



CHAPTER III. 



The Bishop continues his narrative : — ■ 
" Immediately before the publishing of this 
tractate (which did not a little aggravate the envy 
and suspicion,) I was by his Majesty raised to 
the bishoprick of Exeter; having formerly, with 
much humble deprecation, refused the see of 
Gloucester earnestly proffered unto me. How, 
beyond all expectation, it pleased God to place 
me in that western charge ; which, if the Duke 
of Buckingham's letters, he being then in France, 
had arrived but some hours sooner, I had been 
defeated of; and, by what strange means it 
pleased God to make up the competency of that 
provison, by the unthought-of addition of the 
rectory of St. Breok # within that diocese : if I 
should fully relate the circumstances, would force 



* The living of St. Breok, in Cornwall, according to Dr. 
Walker, was then worth about £300. a year. Sufferings of the 
Clergy, part ii, p. 24. 



SEE OF EXETER. 



1J3 



the confession of an extraordinary hand of God 
in the disposing of those events. 

" I entered upon that place, not without much 
prejudice and suspicion on some hands: for some, 
that sat at the stern of the Church, had me in 
great jealousy for too much favor of Puritanism. 
I soon had intelligence who were set over me for 
espials. My ways were curiously observed and 
scanned. However, I took the resolution to 
follow those courses which might most conduce 
to the peace and happiness of my new and weighty 
charge. Finding, therefore, some factious spirits 
very busy in that diocese, I used all fair and 
gentle means to win them to good order; and 
therein so happily prevailed, that, saving two 
of that numerous clergy who continuing in their 
refractoriness fled away from censure, they were 
all perfectly reclaimed : so as I had not one 
minister professedly opposite to the anciently 
received orders (for I was never guilty of urging 
any new impositions) of the church in that large 
diocese. 

" Thus we went on comfortably together, till 
some persons of note in the clergy, being guilty 
of their own negligence and disorderly courses, 
began to envy our success ; and, finding me ever 
ready to encourage those whom I found conscion- 
ably forward and painful in their places, and 
willingly giving way to orthodox and peaceable 

i 



114 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



lectures in several parts of my diocese, opened 
their mouths against me, both obliquely in the 
pulpit and directly at the court ; complaining of 
my too much diligence to persons disaffected, and 
my too much liberty of frequent lecturings within 
my charge. The billows went so high, that I was 
three several times upon my knee to his Majesty, 
to answer these great criminations: and what 
contestation I had with some great lords con- 
cerning these particulars, it would be too long 
to report; only this; under how dark a cloud 
I was hereupon I was so sensible, that I plainly 
told the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, that, 
rather than I would be obnoxious to those 
slanderous tongues of his misinformers, I would 
cast up my rochet.* I knew 1 went right ways, 
and would not endure to live under undeserved 
suspicions. 

" What messages of caution I had from some 
of my wary brethren, and what expostulatory 
letters I had from above, I need not relate. Sure 
I am, I had peace and comfort at home, in the 
happy sense of that general unanimity and loving 
correspondence of my clergy, till, in the last year 
of my presiding there, after the synodical oath 
was set on foot (which yet I did never tender to 



* White garment ; he means his episcopal dress. 



TRANSLATED TO NORWICH. 115 

any one minister of my diocese) by the incitation 
of some busy interlopers of the neighbour county, 
some of them began to enter into an unkind con- 
testation with me about the election of clerks of 
the convocation ; whom they secretly, without 
ever acquainting me with their desire or purpose, 
as driving to that end which we see now accom- 
plished, would needs nominate and set up in 
competition to those whom 1 had, after the usual 
form, recommended to them. That they had a 
right to free voices in that choice, I denied not : 
only I had reason to take it unkindly that they 
would work underhand, without me, and against 
me ; professing, that, if they had beforehand made 
their desires known to me, 1« should willingly 
have gone along with them in their election. It 
came to the poll. Those of my nomination car- 
ried it. 

" The parliament begun. After some hard 
tugging there, returning home on a recess, I was 
met on the way and cheerfully welcomed with 
some hundreds. 

" In no worse terms I left that my once dear 
diocese: when, returning to Westminster, I was 
soon called by his Majesty, who was then in the 
North, to a remove to Norwich. 

" But how I took the Tower in my way, and 
how I have been dealt with since my repair 
hither, I could be lavish in the sad report; ever 

i 2 



116 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



desiring my good God to enlarge my heart in 
thankfulness to him for the sensible experience 
I have had of his fatherly hand over me in the 
deepest of all my afflictions, and to strengthen 
me for whatsoever other trials he shall be 
pleased to call me unto ; that, being found faith- 
ful unto the death, I may obtain that crown of 
life which he hath ordained for all those that 
overcome." 

Thus closes the Bishop's " Account of some 
specialities in his own life."- — We shall now 
revert to some parts of the Narrative which 
other sources of information enable us to fill up, 
where the writers modesty had rendered him 
more brief than could have been wished. 

By the death of Dr. Miles Smith, bishop of 
Gloucester, # in the year 1624, that bishopric being 
vacant, was offered to Dr. Hall, then dean of 
Worcester : he was earnestly pressed to accept 
that charge ; but, " with much humble depreca- 
tion," he refused it. However, three years after, 
1627, he was promoted by his Majesty to the 
bishopric of Exeter, void by the death of Dr. 
Valentine Gary, who had been careful of his charge, 
and presided over that see about six years ; but 



* Dr. Miles Smith was one of the translators of the Bible, 
and wrote the Preface to it. 



WRITINGS AGAINST POPERY. 117 

he resided very little in his palace at Exeter, on 
account of the plague which raged very much there 
in his time. Dr. Hall was consecrated December 
23, and was allowed to hold with his bishopric in 
commendam, the rectory of St. Breok in Cornwall. 
At the time he was elevated to the See of Exeter, 
he had the misfortune to be misunderstood by 
several well-meaning but over-zealous protestants, 
in defending the church of England against the 
attacks of some papists. Soon after he was made 
bishop, he published his Treatise entitled The 
Old Religion, in which he exposes the corruptions 
and errors of the church of Rome, and ably vindi- 
cates the church of England. But some, through 
envy or ignorance, unjustly accused him of remiss- 
ness, and of giving his popish adversaries the 
advantage of the contest, in allowing the church 
of Rome to be a true visible church, though a cor- 
rupt and an unsound one. In vindication of him- 
self, he wrote An Apologetical Advertisement, 
wherein he explains his views of the Roman 
church, and refutes the calumny of his changing 
his sentiments upon his promotion, and also repels 
the charge of inconstancy : with respect to this, 
he says, " though, while we are here in this region 
of mutability, our whole man is subject to change, 
yet we do all herein affect a likeness to the God 
of truth, in whom there is no shadow of turning 



118 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



especially in religion, so much more as that doth 
more assimilate and unite us to that unchangeable 
Deity."* He states, that what he wrote then, was 
the same in substance with what he had written 
near twenty years before: " how," says he, " doth 
the addition of a dignity bring envy upon the same 
truth? might that pass com mend ably from the pen 
or tongue of a Doctor, which will not be endured 
from the hand of a Bishop? my brethren, lam 
where I was, the change is yours. "f Envious 
clamour and prejudice against him did not abate, 
but he was compelled further to vindicate himself, 
by another Treatise, entitled, The Reconciler, 
being a pacificatory Letter addressed to the Earl 
of Norwich. After stating fully and clearly his 
view of the seeming differences of opinion, concern- 
ing the trueness and visibility of the Roman Church, 
Bishop Hall says, " Alas, my Lord, I see, and 
grieve to see it : it is my Rochet (episcopal habit) 
that hath offended, and not I : in another habit, I 
long since published this, and more, without dis- 
like : it is this colour of innocence that hath 
bleared some over-tender eyes. Wherein I know 
not whether I should more pity their error, or 
applaud my own sufferings. Although I may not 
say with the Psalmist, What hath the righteous 



* Works, vol. ix, p. 301. 
t Works, vol. ix, p. 303. 



WRITINGS AGAINST POPERY. 119 

done ? Let me, I beseech your Lordship, upon 
this occasion, have leave to give a little vent to 
my just grief in this point. 

' ' The other day I fell upon a Latin pamphlet, 
homely for style, tedious for length, zealously 
uncharitable for stuff; wherein the author (only 
wise in this, that he would be unknown) in a grave 
fierceness flies in the face of our English prelacy ; 
not so much inveighing against their persons, which • 
he could be content to reverence, as their very 
places. I bless myself to see the case so altered. 
Heretofore, the person had wont to bear off many 
blows from the function: now the very function 
wounds the person. In what case are we, when that, 
which should command respect, brands us ! What 
black art hath raised up this spirit of iErius from 
his pit ? Woe is me, that zeal should breed such 
monsters of conceit! It is the honour, the pomp, 
the wealth, the pleasure, he saith, of the episco- 
pal chair, that is guilty of the depravation of our 
calling; and, if himself were so overlaid with 
greatness, he should suspect his own fidelity. 
Alas, poor man, at what distance doth he see us ! 
Foggy air useth to represent every object far big- 
ger than it is. Our Saviour, in his temptation upon 
the mount, had only the glory of those kingdoms 
shewed to him by that subtle Spirit; not the cares 
and vexations : right so are our dignities exhibited 



120 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



to these envious beholders : little do these men 
see the toils and anxieties that attend this sup- 
posedly-pleasing eminence. 

"All the revenge, that I would wish to this 
uncharitable censurer, should be this, that he 
might be but for a while adjudged to this so glori- 
ous seat of mine ; that so his experience might 
taste the bewitching pleasures of this envied great- 
ness ; he should well mid more danger of being- 
overspent with work, than of languishing with ease 
and delicacy. For me, I need not appeal to 
heaven : eyes enough can witness, how few free 
hours I have enjoyed, since I put on these robes 
of sacred honour. Insomuch as I could find in 
my heart, with holy Gregory, to complain of my 
change ; were it not, that I see these public troubles 
are so many acceptable services to my God, 
whose glory is the end of my being. Certainly, 
my Lord, if none but earthly respects should 
sway me, I should heartily wish to change this 
palace, which the providence of God and the 
bounty of my gracious Sovereign hath put me 
into, for my quiet cell at Waltham, where I had 
so sweet leisure to enjoy God, your Lordship, 
and myself. But 1 have followed the calling of 
my God, to whose service I am willingly sacri- 
ficed; and must now, in a holy obedience to his 
Divine Majesty, with what cheerfulness I may, 
ride out all the storms of envy, which unavoida- 



WRITINGS AGAINST POPERY. 



121 



bly will alight upon the least appearance of a 
conceived greatness. In the mean time, what- 
ever I may seem to others, I was never less in my 
own apprehensions; and, where it not for this 
attendance of envy, could not yield myself any 
whit greater than I was." # 

The above quotation very particularly pour- 
trays the mind of Bishop Hall, when he was har- 
assed by envy and calumny, and his sacred func- 
tion so uncharitably attacked. Upon the misre- 
presentation of his opinion respecting the visibility 
of the church of Rome, Bishop Hall consulted 
Bishop Morton, Bishop Davenant, Dr. Prideaux, 
Dr. Primrose, &c. and requested each of them to 
express their sentiments concerning the point in 
dispute. They unanimously concurred with 
Bishop Hall's view of the subject: so that the 
Treatise, entitled the Reconciler, was seconded 
with the letters of the above learned and sound 
divines, " whose indubitable authority," says 
Bishop Hall, "was able to bear down calumny 
itself. Which done, I did by a seasonable modera- 
tion provide for the peace of the church, in silenc- 



* Works, vol. ix, pp. 315, 316.— This may be reckoned a 
correct and fair representation of the general condition of the 
Bishops of the Church of England: the weighty and anxious 
cares of their vocation are better known to themselves than to 
others. 



122 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



ing both my defendants and challengers, in this 
unkind and ill-raised quarrel."* 

We learn from Bishop Hall's dedication of his 
Treatise entitled The Old Religion, to the dio- 
cese of Exeter, that during the time of the late 
vacancy, papists had taken the advantage to dis- 
seminate " the tares of errors" among the people : 
he therefore expressed his resolution, and faith- 
fully vowed his utmost endeavours to reform and 
prevent all sins of practice, and errors of doctrine: 
" I shall labour against the first, by preaching, 
example, and censures : against the latter, my 
pen hath risen up in this early assault." He 
affectionately recommended to his clergy to lead 
their flocks to the tender pastures, and to the still 
waters: <c by the one," says he, " I mean the 
inuring of our people to the principles of whole- 
some doctrine; by the other, an immunity from 
all faction and disturbance of the public peace." 
He then proceeded strongly to recommend cate- 
chizing. " It was," says he, " the observation of 
the learnedest king that ever sat hitherto in the 
English throne, that the cause of the miscarriage 
of our people into popery and other errors, was 
their ungroundedness in the points of catechism. 



* A suspicion of leaning towards popery was attached at 
that time to all who favoured episcopacy. But, it is evident 
from the whole tenor of Bishop Hall's works, and the general 
course of his life, that nothing was more abhorrent to his soul. 



IN THE SEE OF EXETER. 



123 



How should those souls be but carried about with 
every wind of doctrine, that are not well ballasted 
with solid informations? Whence it was that his 
said late Majesty, of happy memory, gave public 
order for bestowing the latter part of God's day 
in familiar catechizing, than which, nothing could 
be devised more necessary and behoveful to the 
souls of men. J t was the ignorance and ill-dis- 
posedness of some cavillers, that taxed this course 
as prejudicial to preaching ; since, in truth, the 
most useful of all preaching is catechetical. This 
lays the grounds ; the other raiseth the walls and 
roof. This informs the judgment : that stirs up 
the affections. What good use is there of those 
affections, that run before the judgment ? or of 
those walls, that want a foundation? For my part, 
I have spent the greater half of my life in this sta- 
tion of our holy service ; I thank God, not unpain- 
fully, not unprofitably.* But there is no one thing, 
whereof I repent so much, as not to have bestowed 
more hours in this public exercise of catechism. 
In regard whereof I could quarrel with my very 
sermons, and wish that a great part of them had 
been exchanged for this preaching conference. 



* Fuller says, in his Worthies of England, that Hall's little 
Catechism had done great good in the populous parish of 
Waltham; " and I could wish," says he, " that ordinance more 
generally used all over England." 

t Works, vol. ix, pp. 224, 225. 



124 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



These remarks on catechizing are worthy of the 
attention of every Christian Minister, as they 
come from such high authority, as Bishop Hall, 
who spent so large a portion of his life in this 
exercise, and who must have seen and expe- 
rienced its beneficial effects. Undoubtedly it 
is, in a great measure, owing to the neglect of 
catechizing that so many erroneous doctrines and 
unscriptural opinions prevail in the religious world : 
it was so in Bishop Hall's time, when he said, 
" we see catechizing of children, than which 
nothing can be conceived more profitable and 
necessary in God's church, is grown utterly out 
of fashion. And what woeful distractions of opin- 
ions, what horrible paradoxes of contradiction to 
the Articles of Christian faith, have been and are 
daily broached to the world, what good heart can 
but tremble to consider ? Certainly, it was not 
without great reason, that our wise and learned 
King James, of blessed memory, when complaint 
was made to him of the growth of popery in his 
time, returned answer, that all this was for the 
want of catechizing; for, surely, if the younger 
sort were soundly seasoned with true know- 
ledge of the grounds of religion, they could not 
be so easily carried away with every wind of 
doctrine." # 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, pp. 780, 808. 



IN THE SEE OF EXETER. 



125 



Bishop Hall, at his first entering upon this 
new dignity, met with much vexation and 
uneasiness : he was not only suspected of favour- 
ing popery, when he was made a bishop, but 
there were persons disposed to charge him with 
puritanism.* 

About the time Bishop Hall was promoted 
to the see of Exeter, a scheme was formed 
by several gentlemen and clergy, to promote 
preaching in the country, by setting up lectures 
in market towns. They erected themselves 
into a kind of a corporation, and by voluntary 
contributions, purchased what impropriations 
they could meet with in lay hands ; the profits 
of which were to be divided into salaries to 
these lecturers. The trustees had laid out be- 
tween five and six thousand pounds in the pur- 
chasing of impropriations. The design at first 
was looked upon by most people as very lauda- 
ble ; but as it was found that the preachers had 
not those salaries for their lives, but were entirely 
dependent on the good will and humour of their 
patrons, who were considered as not very well 
affected to the established church, and as most 
of the lecturers were either non-conformists, or 



* See above, p. 113. 



126 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



such as had been silenced for refusing to sub- 
scribe the articles. Bishop Laud looked on these 
proceedings with an evil eye, and represented 
them to the king, as a conspiracy against the 
church. An information was therefore brought 
against the trustees, by Mr. Attorney-General 
Noy, as an unlawful society formed into a body 
corporate, without any grant from the king, and 
it was decreed, that the impropriations should be 
confiscated to the king, and the trustees fined 
in the Star-Chamber :• — but, however, the pro- 
secution for some reasons was dropt, as it 
ultimately appeared, that the trustees already 
were out of pocket above a thousand pounds in 
this business. 

The puritans thought this an odious prose- 
cution, and exclaimed against the bishops as 
designing to introduce Arminianism and Popery 
into the church. The violences, which should 
justly have been ascribed to the circumstances of 
the time, were unhappily imputed to the Church 
of England ; whilst Bishop Laud, and others, 
who had great credit with the king, were con- 
tinually representing to him all those as puritans, 
who were not entirely submissive to the regal 
power, and were using against them severities in 
the High Commission, and Star Chamber, very 
unbecoming the spirit of Christianity. Thus the 



IN THE SEE OF EXETER. 



127 



breach grew wider daily between the king and 
the puritans ; and after the death of Archbishop 
Abbot, Bishop Laud was advanced into the pri- 
macy : the breach still widened through this 
Primate's intolerancy, till it ended in his own 
destruction, and that of the king, and the Church 
of England. 

But some persons charged Bishop Hall with 
too much indulgence of lecturings in his diocese : 
these adversaries of the bishop were some clergy 
of note, " guilty of negligence, and of disorderly 
courses," and who envied his success, finding him 
always ready to encourage conscientious and 
laborious clergymen, and promoting orthodox 
and peaceable lectures in various parts of his 
diocese. We have already seen (p. 114) how he 
met these complaints. 

In these troubles and vexations of Bishop Hall, 
the reader may perceive the persecuting spirit of 
Archbishop Laud, who had his spies in every 
quarter to find out those who were puritanically 
inclined. Because Bishop Hall was, and always 
had been a diligent preacher himself, and a great 
encourager of preaching, and promoted regular 
lectures in his diocese, he must be reckoned a too 
great favourer of puritanism ! He must be there- 
fore complained of to his sovereign, and nearly 
be compelled to give up his episcopal function! 



128 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Undoubtedly such men as Archbishop Laud,when 
placed at the helm of ecclesiastical affairs, have 
been the cause of very much harm to the Chris- 
tian church. Such circumstances must have 
made the assuming the government of the see of 
Exeter extremely difficult to Bishop Hall ; but 
by his prudent measures, and mild, unaffected 
behaviour, he soon obtained the confidence and 
affections of his numerous clergy. The reader is 
referred to the affecting " Account of Himself," 
and to his " Letter from the Tower," wherein 
his character is truly delineated, and the unjust 
charges of all his adversaries refuted. Our his- 
torians have blamed Bishop Hall, Archbishop 
Usher, Bishop Prideaux, Bishop Brownrigge, 
and some others, for their moderation, as giving 
the disaffected in those times some advantage 
against the established church. But such accu- 
sations were generally made by those who were 
of high church principles, and were disposed to 
carry their own rigid views to an extreme. Bishop 
Hall has been accused very undeservedly of 
favoring any irregularity in the church : he inva- 
riably used his moderation in order to win over 
the enemies of the church. While engaged in 
controversy, he always conducted himself with 
such spirit and temper, that his antagonists could 
not but allow, that he acted from love to them 



ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 



129 



and to the truth. If therefore, on any occasion, 
his Christian moderation was made a wrong use 
of, it should not be imputed as a fault to him, 
but to those who abused it. 

As soon as Dr. Laud was made Archbishop of 
Canterbury, there was one thing in particular 
advised by him, which very justly gave great 
offence to all serious people in the church and 
out of it. The occasion of it was this. A com- 
plaint having been made to the Lord Chief 
Justice Richardson, and Baron Denham, in their 
Western circuit, of the great inconvenience arising 
from revels, sports, church ales, and clerk ales* on 
Sundays : the two judges, at the request of the 
justices of the peace, made an order for sup- 
pressing these occasions of riot and debauchery 
on the Lord's day, and enjoined every parish 
minister to publish this order yearly in his church, 
the first Sunday in February, and the two Sun- 
days before Easter. Upon the return of the 
circuit, the judges punished some few persons for 



* Church ales were, when the people went from afternoon 
prayers on Sunday to their sports and pastimes in the church 
yard, or in some other place, as a public house, where they 
drank and made merry. 

Clerk ales were so called, because they were for the benefit 
of the parish clerk : the people used to send him provisions, 
and then come on a certain Sunday, and feasted with him, by 
which means he used to sell a great quantity of ale, the profits 
of which aided his salary. 

K 



130 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



their disobedience of their order. The Arch- 
bishop, being informed of this proceeding of the 
two judges, complained to the king of their 
invading the episcopal jurisdiction, and prevailed 
on his Majesty to summon them before the Coun- 
cil. When they appeared, Richardson pleaded 
that the order was made at the request and 
unanimous consent of the bench of justices, and 
justified it by producing precedents in the two 
foregoing reigns, as well as the present.* But 
all he could say signified nothing; he was sharply 
reprimanded, and enjoined to revoke the order at 
the next assizes, which he did contrary to his 
inclinations, as well as those of all good men, 
who could not but think such revels, sports, &c. 
on the sabbath-day, dishonourable to God, and 
extremely prejudicial to his Majesty and the 
country. This circumstance almost broke the 
judge's heart, for when he came out of the Coun- 
cil Chamber, he told the Earl of Dorset, with 
tears in his eyes, " that he had been miserably 
shaken by the Archbishop, and was like to be 
choaked with his lawn-sleeves." 

The primate having thus humbled the judge, 



* Eliz. 38, Sep. 10, the justices assembled at Bridgwater 
ordered that no church ale, clerk ale, or bid ale, be suffered. 
Signed by Popham, Lord Chief Justice, and ten others. The 
same order was repeated 1599, and Eliz. 41 ; and again at 
Exeter, 1615, Jac. 13, and Anno 1627. 



BOOK OF SPORTS, 



131 



and taken this affair into his own hands, pre- 
vailed on his Majesty to republish his father's 
declaration of the year 1618, " concerning lawful 
sports to be used on Sundays after divine service." 
This was called the Book of Sports. This in- 
famous declaration for sports on the sabbath day 
was republished, Oct. 18, 1633, with additions or 
improvements. As this Book of Sports is so 
frequently mentioned by waiters, in order to 
satisfy the curiosity of the reader, and that he 
might be able to judge of its merits, I have here 
annexed a copy of it : it was to this effect : — 

" That king James, of blessed memory, in his 
return from Scotland, coming through Lancashire, 
found that his subjects were debarred from lawful 
recreations upon Sundays, after evening-prayers 
ended, and upon holydays. And he prudently 
considered, that if these times were taken from 
them, the meaner sort, who labour hard all the 
week, should have no recreations at all to refresh 
their spirits. And, after his return, he further 
saw, that his loyal subjects, in all other parts of 
his kingdom, did suffer in the same kind, though 
perhaps not in the same degree ; and did there- 
fore, in his princely wisdom, publish a declara- 
tion to all his loving subjects, concerning lawful 
sports to be used at such times, which was 
printed and published by his royal command - 

K2 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



ment, in the year 1618, in the tenor which here- 
after followeth : — 

" Whereas, upon his Majesty's return last year 
out of Scotland, he did publish his pleasure, 
touching the recreations of his people in those 
parts, under his hand. For some causes him 
thereunto moving, hath thought good to command 
these his directions, then given in Lancashire, 
with a few words thereunto added, and most 
applicable to these parts of the realm, to be pub- 
lished to all his subjects. 

" Whereas he did justly, in his progress through 
Lancashire, rebuke some puritans and precise 
people: and took order, that the like unlawful 
carriage should not be used by any of them here- 
after, in the prohibiting and unlawful punishing 
of his good people, for using their lawful recre- 
ations, and honest exercises, upon Sundays, and 
other holidays, after the afternoon sermon or 
service. His Majesty hath now found, that two 
sorts of people, wherewith that country is much 
infected, viz. papists and puritans, hath mali- 
ciously traduced and calumniated those his just 
and honourable proceedings : and therefore, lest 
his reputation might, upon the one side, (though 
innocently,) have some aspersion laid upon it; 
and that, upon the other part, his good people in 
that country be misled by the mistaking and 



BOOK OF SPORTS. 



133 



misinterpretation of his meaning, his Majesty 
hath therefore thought good hereby to clear and 
make his pleasure to be manifested to all his 
good people in those parts. 

" It is true, that, at his first entry to this crown 
and kingdom, he was informed, and that truly, 
that his county of Lancashire abounded more in 
popish recusants than any county of England, 
and thus hath still continued since, to his great 
regret, with little amendment; save that, now of 
late, in his last riding through his said county, 
hath found, both by the report of the judges and 
of the bishop of that diocese, that there is some 
amendment now daily beginning, which is no 
small contentment to his Majesty. The report 
of this growing amendment amongst them, made 
his Majesty the more sorry, when, with his own 
ears, he heard the general complaint of his people, 
that they were debarred from all lawful recrea- 
tions and exercise upon the Sundays' afternoon, 
after the ending of all divine service, which cannot 
but produce two evils : the one, the hindering 
the conversion of many, whom their priests will 
take occasion hereby to vex, persuading them 
that no honest mirth or recreation is lawful or 
tolerable in the religion which the king professeth, 
and which cannot but breed a great discontent- 
ment in his people's hearts, especially of such as 
are, peradventure, upon the point of turning. 



134 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



The other inconvenience is, that this prohibition 
barreth the common and meaner sort of people 
from using such exercises as may make their 
bodies more able for war, when his Majesty or 
his successors shall have occasion to use them ; 
and in place thereof, sets up tippling and filthy 
drunkenness, and breeds a number of idle and 
discontented speeches in their alehouses. For 
when shall the common people have leave to 
exercise, if not upon the Sundays and holidays, 
seeing that they must apply their labour, and win 
their living, in all working days ? 

" The king's express pleasure therefore is, that 
the laws of this kingdom, and canons of the 
church, be as well observed in that county, as in 
all other places of this his kingdom. And, on 
the other hand, that no lawful recreation shall be 
barred to his good people, which shall not tend 
to the breach of the aforesaid laws and canons of 
his church ; which, to express more particularly 
his Majesty's pleasure, is, that the bishops, and 
all other inferior churchmen, and churchwardens, 
shall, for their parts, be careful and diligent, both 
to instruct the ignorant, and convince and reform 
them that are misled in religion ; presenting them 
that will not conform themselves, but obstinately 
stand out, to the judges and justices, whom he 
likewise commands to put the laws in due execu- 
tion against them. 



BOOK OF SPORTS. 



135 



" His Majesty's pleasure likewise is, that the 
bishop of the diocese take the like strict order 
with all the puritans and precisians within the 
same : either constrain them to conform them- 
selves, or to leave the country, according to the 
laws of this kingdom, and canons of this church, 
and so to strike equally on both hands against 
the contemners of his authority, and adversaries 
of the church. And as for his good people's law- 
ful recreation, his pleasure likewise is, that, after 
the end of divine service, his good people be not 
disturbed, letted, or discouraged from any lawful 
recreation ; such as dancing, either men or 
women ; archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or 
any other such harmless recreations ; nor from 
having of May-games, Whitsun-ales, and Morice- 
dances, and the setting up of May-poles, and 
other sports therewith used ; so as the same be 
had in due and convenient time, without impedi- 
ment or neglect of divine service. And that 
women shall have leave to carry rushes to the 
church, for the decorating of it, according to 
their old custom. But withal his Majesty doth 
hereby account still as prohibited, all unlawful 
games to be used upon Sundays only, as bear 
and bulljbai tings, interludes, and, at all times, 
in the meaner sort of people by law prohibited, 
bowling. 

" And likewise bars from this benefit and 



136 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



liberty, all such known recusants, either men or 
women, as will abstain from coming to church or 
divine service ; being therefore unworthy of any 
lawful recreation after the said service, that will 
not first come to the church and serve God : 
prohibiting in like sort the said recreations to any 
that, though conform in religion, are not present 
in the church at the service of God, before their 
going to the said recreations. His pleasure like- 
wise is, that they, to whom it belongeth in office, 
shall present and sharply punish all such as, in 
abuse of this his liberty, will use these exercises 
before the end of all divine services for that day. 
And he doth likewise straightly command, that 
every person shall resort to his own parish- church 
to hear divine service, and each parish by itself 
to use the said recreation after divine service : 
prohibiting likewise auy offensive weapons to be 
carried, or used, in the same times of recreation. 
And his pleasure is, that this his declaration 
shall be published, by order from the bishop of 
the diocese, through all the parish churches; and 
that both the judges of the circuits, and the jus- 
tices of the peace, be informed thereof. 

" Given at the manor of Greenwich, the 24th 
of May, in the 16th year of his Majesty's 
reign, of England, France, and Ireland, and 
of Scotland, the one and fiftieth." 



BOOK OF SPORTS. 



137 



" Now out of a like pious care for the service 
of God, and for suppressing of any humours that 
oppose truth, and for the ease, comfort, and re- 
creation of his well-deserving people, his Majesty 
doth ratify and publish this his blessed fathers 
declaration ; the rather, because of late, in some 
counties of this kingdom, his Majesty finds that, 
under pretence of taking away abuses, there hath 
been a general forbidding, not only of ordinary 
meetings, but of the feasts of the dedication of 
the churches, commonly called Wakes. Now 
his Majesty's express will and pleasure is, that 
these feasts, with others, shall be observed ; and 
that his justices of the peace, in their several 
divisions, shall look to it, both that ail disorders 
there may be prevented or punished, and that all 
neighbourhood and freedom with manlike and 
lawful exercises, be used. And for this his 
Majesty further commands all justices of assize, 
in their several circuits, to see that no man do 
trouble or molest any of his loyal and dutiful 
people, in or for their lawful recreations, having 
first done their duty to God, and continuing in 
obedience to his Majesty's laws. And for this 
his Majesty commands all his judges, justices of 
peace, as well within liberties as without, majors, 
bailiffs, constables, and other officers, to take 
notice of, and to see observed, as they tender his 
displeasure. And doth further will, that pub- 



138 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



lication of this his command be made, by order 
from the bishops, through all the parish churches 
of their several dioceses respectively. 

" Given at the palace of Westminster, the 
18th day of October, in the ninth year of 
his reign. 

" God save the King." 

The publication of this declaration for sports 
on the Lord's day, was to be by order from the 
bishops, through all the parish churches of their 
respective dioceses. This opened a flood-gate 
to all manner of licentiousness among the popu- 
lace, and became the means of unspeakable 
oppression to a great number of worthy clergy- 
men. The ruling prelates, though unauthorized 
by law, required the clergy to read it publicly 
before the congregation : and those clergy who 
refused, felt the iron rod of oppression, suspen- 
sion, deprivation, &c. It struck the sober part of 
the nation with horror, to see themselves invited 
by the authority of the king and church, to that 
which seemed so contrary to the command of 
God. It was certainly out of character for 
bishops a- d clergymen, who should support and 
encourage religion, to draw men off from the 
practice of it, by inviting them to public sports 
and pastimes upon the day which God himself 



BOOK OF SPORTS. 



139 



has commanded mankind to remember to keep 
holy. Such were the piety and wisdom of these 
times ! The court had their balls, masquerades, 
and plays, on the Sunday evenings ; whilst the 
country people were at their revels, morrice- 
dances, May-games, church-ales, and all kinds 
of diversion. 

The bishops were ordered to take care of its 
publication in all parish churches. Archbishop 
Laud knew it would distress the puritans, and 
would tend to purify the church of a set of men, 
for whom he had a perfect aversion. The im- 
posing this declaration to be published by the 
clergy was a great hardship, and was the cause of 
sad havoc amongst them for above seven years. 
Many poor clergymen strained their consciences 
in submission to their superiors. Some after 
publishing it, immediately read the fourth com- 
mandment to the people, Remember the sabbath 
day to keep it holy ; adding, " This is the law of 
God; the other, the injunction of man'' Great 
numbers refused to comply at all to read the 
declaration. Fuller says, " that the archbishop's 
moderation in his own diocese was remarkable, 
silencing but three, in whom also was a con- 
currence of other non-conformities ; but that his 
adversaries imputed it not to his charity, but 
policy, fox-like, preying farthest from bis own 



140 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



den, and instigating other bishops to do more 
than he would appear in himself."* 

A great number of clergymen were, during the 
space of about seven years, silenced, suspended, 
and deprived of their livings for refusing to read 
the book of sports. It would be too tedious to 
relate in this volume all the particulars of the 
suspensions, deprivations, and other persecutions 
in the High Commission Court for not read- 
ing it. 

When we consider that Charles I. has been 
represented as remarkable for his piety, and the 
diligent performance of the external acts of reli- 
gion, " setting a pattern to others in what related 
to the worship and service of Almighty God;" 
it would be hardly credible, did not historians 
unanimously concur in recording the fact, that 
he should revive the declaration of his father 
concerning sports on the Lord's day, and dis- 
countenance such as were for a strict observance 
of it. But so it was ; and the charge of repub- 
lishing this declaration is a great blemish in the 
character of Charles I, though undoubtedly, he 
was instigated and recommended to do it by 
Archbishop Laud. The public licence and en- 
couragement of sports and diversions, after divine 



* Ch. Hist. b. xi, p. 148. 



BOOK OF SPORTS. 



141 



service on Sundays, was a thing of ill report, 
destructive to the morals of the common people, 
and even contrary to a statute made in this 
reign. 1 Caroli, c. 1.* It tended to efface any 
good impressions received in the worship of God, 
and it was so inconsistent with the petition or 
prayer subjoined in the Liturgy to the fourth 
commandment — Lord, have mercy upon us, and 
incline our hearts to keep this law ! It there- 
fore left a bad impression on the minds of 
the people, with respect to the king's regard 
to religion and morality ; especially since his 
Majesty made use of the liberty he gave to his 
subjects. He scrupled not giving a masquerade 
on a Sunday : f and it must be allowed that it 



* It was the only act relating to religion, which his Majesty 
passed in the Parliament of 1625, and was entitled, An Act 
to prevent unlawful Pastimes on the Lord's day. The preamble 
sets forth, That the holy keeping of the Lord's day is a prin- 
cipal part of the true service of God — "Therefore it is enacted, 
that there shall be no assemblies of people out of their own 
parishes, for any sports or pastimes whatsoever ; nor any bear- 
bailing, bull-baitmg, interludes, common plays, or other unlaw- 
ful exercises or pastimes, within their own parishes, on for- 
feiture of three shillings and sixpence for every such offence to 
the poor." " However," says Neal, " this law was never put 
in execution. Men were reproached and censured for too strict 
an observation of the Lord's day, but none that I have met 
with, for the profanation of it." It was suspended and abro- 
gated by the publication of the book of sports. See Neal's 
Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, pp. 162, 163. 

t " The French and Spanish Ambassadors were both at the 
king's mask, but not received as Ambassadors. The French 



142 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



was a very strange way to express a pious care 
for the service of God, by encouraging Morice- 
dances, May-games, May-poles, and revels, on 
the day set apart for divine worship. The people, 
possessing even common sense, could not be 
brought to believe, that the practice of virtue 
could be promoted by the mixt dancing of men 
and women on village greens, or in other places on 
Sunday evenings, and at wakes and Whitsun-ales. 
When the common people were encouraged to 
spend the sabbath in idleness or in diversions, 
the natural consequence must necessarily have 
been, that a loose turn of mind would be con- 
tracted, and a demoralization, or a great depra- 
vity of manners ensue. Therefore it always 
behoves persons in authority to promote the 
observance of the Lord's day, and to shew 
themselves an exemplary and a regular behaviour 
on that sacred day : for by a strict observance 
of the sabbath by men in power, decency of man- 
ners will be generally increased, knowledge 



sat amongst the ladies, the Spanish in a box. It was performed 
on a Sunday night, the day after the twelfth night, in very cold 
weather, so that the house was not filled according to expecta- 
tion. The act of council to drive all men into the country, the 
coldness of the weather, the day Sunday, and the illness of the 
invention of the scenes, were given for causes why so small 
a company came to see it. My Lord-Treasurer (Bishop 
Juxton) was there by command." Strafforde's Letters and 
Dispatches, vol. ii, p. 148. 



BOOK OF SPORTS. 



143 



advanced, and a sense of religion (a thing of the 
greatest importance to society as well as to indi- 
viduals) will be promoted in the minds of men. 
This is the duty of men in power : if they neglect 
it, they are not to wonder at the demoralized 
state and wickedness of the lower classes, or 
complain of the breach of social duties.* 

Though several of the bishops urged the reading 
of the book of sports in their dioceses, and caused 
many of the clergy for refusing to do it, to be sus- 
pended and to be oppressed, yet, with respect to 
the diocese of Exeter, there is no account of any 
one clergyman suffering on account of it. As one 
object of publishing the book of sports was to sup- 
press afternoon sermons, so we know 7 ^hat Bishop 
Hall was a very great encourager of sermons and 
of lectures ; therefore there is strong probability 
that he did not countenance sports on the sabbath, 
nor urge his clergy to read the declaration. Con- 
sidering his great moderation, we may suppose 
that he left it entirely to the discretion of his clergy 
to comply or not with the reading of it. In his 
Works we find no allusion to, or any remarks 
made upon this declaration for sports ; the good 
bishop probably passed over such a violation of 
God's law in silence, out of respect, and from 



* Harris's Life of Charles I. pp. 59, 60. 



144 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



obedience, to the powers that be for conscience" sake. 
But it would have been well, if he had left us a 
testimony of his decided disapprobation of such a 
violation of the sabbath ; or that he had written 
purposely on the morality of the Lord's day. 

When the declaration for sports was repub- 
lished, the controversy of the morality of the sab- 
bath was revived. Mr. Theophilus Bradbourne, a 
Suffolk Minister, had published in the year 1628, 
a Defence of the most ancient and sacred ordinance 
of God, the Sabbath day ; and dedicated it to the 
king. But Fuller observes, " That the poor 
man fell into the ambush of the high commission, 
whose well-tempered severity so prevailed with 
him, that he became a convert, and conformed 
quietly to the church of England" Francis- 
White, bishop of Ely, was commanded by the king 
to confute Bradbourne : after him appeared Dr. 
Pocklington, with his Sunday no sabbath ; and 
after him Heylin and others.* These divines, 
instead of softening some rigours in Bradbourne's 
Sabbatarian strictness, ran into the contrary ex- 
treme, denying all manner of divine right or moral 
obligation to the observance of the whole, or any 
part of the Lord's day, making it to depend entirely 
upon ecclesiastical authority, and to oblige no 



* Ch. Hist. b. xi, p. 144. See also Heylin's Life of Laud, 
pp. 257, 268. 



BOOK OF SPORTS. 



145 



further than to the few hours of public service : 
and that, in the intervals, all kinds of revels and 
diversions were lawful and expedient. 

It must be acknowledged that the long Parlia- 
ment paid a particular regard to the strict and 
due observation of the Lord's day, and so passed 
several ordinances or acts to that purpose. All 
kinds of sports, either before or after divine ser- 
vice, were discountenanced; the preaching of 
God's- word was promoted in the afternoon on 
Sundays, in the several churches and chapels, 
and ministers were encouraged thereunto. And 
it does the long Parliament credit so far as to 
shew their abhorrence of the infamous book of 
sports, which was ordered, May 5, 1643, to be 
burnt by the hands of the common hangman in 
Cheapside, and other places; and all persons 
having any copies in their hands, were required to 
deliver them to one of the Sheriffs of London to 
be burnt. 

Archbishop Laud was so far from undeceiving 
those who were disposed to imagine that the church 
was leaning to popery, that he seemed at this 
time to have taken care to confirm them in their 
suspicion, by conforming to the Romish church in 
matters of little moment. There was scarce a 
church then in England, except the cathedrals, 
and the king's chapel, where the communion table 
was placed altarwise at the upper end of the chan- 



146 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

cel. The communion-table was usually placed in 
the middle of the chancel, and the people received 
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper round it, or in 
their places thereabouts.* The dean and chapter 
of St. Paul's ordered the communion table in St. 
Gregory's church near St. Paul's to be removed 
from the middle of the chancel to the upper 
end of it, and to be placed there in form of an 
altar. This was complained of by the parishion- 
ers in the Court of Arches. The king some- 
time after commanded this cause to be heard 
before the council ; where his Majesty himself 
directed the Dean of the Arches to confirm 
what had been done. In consequence of this 
sentence, pronounced by the king's authority, 
without the judgment of the court, to which the 
cognizance of this affair belonged, all communion- 
tables were ordered to be fixed under the east- 
wall of the chancel, with the ends north and south 
in form of an altar ; and to be raised two or three 
steps above the floor, and encompassed with rails. 
This proved a source of oppression to many minis- 
ters and parishes who were unwilling to comply 
with such an order. It is almost incredible what 
a great ferment this trifling alteration occasioned 
over the kingdom. Books were written for and 



* The communion-table of the church of Great Gransden, 
Hunts, remains still (1824) in the middle of the Chancel. 



PRYNNE. 



147 



against it, with the same earnestness and conten- 
tion for victory, as if the very existence of religion 
had been in danger. This occasioned a sort of 
schism or division among the bishops, " and a great 
deal of uncharitableness in the learned and mode- 
rate clergy towards one another."* Those who 
opposed the alterations were called doctrinal 
puritans, and the promoters of them doctrinal 
papists. As the Archbishop and his party were 
thus indiscreet on the one side, so the zeal of the 
puritans, on the other, betrayed them into very 
intemperate and indecent practices towards the 
established government of the church. But they 
were not the only people who were dissatisfied 
with the innovations which were introduced, and 
who were jealous that something more was in- 
tended than was as yet proposed, f 

About the beginning of the year 1634, the 
severe sentence of the Star-chamber was pro- 
nounced against William Prynne, barrister and 
member of Lincoln's-inn, for writing a book inti- 
tled Histriomastix, £ against plays, masquerades, 



* Clarendon. 

t Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 526. 

| This book is a thick quarto of 1006 pages. It abounds 
with learning, and has some curious quotations ; but it is a very 
tedious and heavy performance ; had he been let alone, few 
people would have read his book. He was a person of austere 
principles, and, perhaps, was one of the hardest students that 
ever existed. He was called one of the greatest paper-worms that 

L 2 



148 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



dancing, &c. He was sentenced to have his 
book burnt, to be disabled from the practice of 
the law, be degraded from his degree in the 
university, be set in the pillory, have both his 
ears cut off, to pay a fine of £ 5000. and to be 
imprisoned during life." A short time after, Dr. 
Bastwick a physician, and Mr. Burton a clergy- 
man, were imprisoned ; the former for writing a 
book entitled Elenc/ius Religionis Papistica, with 
Appendix, called Flagelliim Pontificis et Episcopo- 
rum Latialium, which gave a great offence to Laud 
and others ; the latter, for having published two 
exceptionable sermons, from Pro v. xxiv, 21, 22, 
entitled, For God and the King, against the late 
innovations. The punishment of these men, 
who were of the three great professions," observes 



ever crept into a library. Wood supposes that he wrote a sheet 
for every day of his life, computing from the time of his arrival 
to mans estate to the day of his death. He says, "his custom 
was, when he studied, to put on a long quilted cap, which came 
an inch over his eyes, serving as an umbrella to defend them 
from too much light; and seldom eating a dinner, would every 
three hours, or more, be mounching a roll of bread, and now 
and then refresh his exhausted spirits with ale." He wrote 
about two hundred books, which he gave in 40 vols. fol. and 4to. 
to the public Library of Lincoln's Inn. On the restoration of 
Charles II. some asked the king what must be done with 
Prynne to make him quiet. " Why," said his Majesty, " let 
him amuse himself with writing against the Catholics, and in 
poring over the records of the Tower." To enable him to do 
the latter, he was appointed Keeper of the Records of the 
Tower, with a salary of £500. a year. He died Oct. 24, 1669. 
Wood's Athen. Oxon, vol. ii, pp. 311-327. 



BURTON, PRYNNE, AND BASTWICK. 149 

Mr. Granger, " was ignominious and severe: 
though they were never objects of esteem, they 
soon became objects of pity. The indignity and 
severity of their punishment gave general offence ; 
and they were no longer regarded as criminals, 
but confessors."* 

During imprisonment, the above three persons 
were charged with writing several libellous pam- 
phlets, and in the year 1637$ were sentenced to 
suffer perpetual imprisonment; Burton to be 
deprived of his living, and to be degraded from 
his ministry, as Prynne and Bastwick had been 
from their profession of law and physic — each of 
them to pay a fine of £ 5000 — to stand in the 
pillory at Westminster, and have their ears cut off: 
and because Prynne had already lost his ears, it 
was ordered that the stumps should be cut off ; 
and that he should be stigmatized on both cheeks 
with the letters S. L. viz. Seditious Libeller. 
Prynne was imprisoned in Carnarvon castle, but 
afterwards removed to Montorguiel Castle in 
Jersey: Bastwick in Launceston Castle, but 
removed to the castle in the isle of Scilly ; and 
Burton in the castle of Lancaster, but was removed 
to Castle-cornet in the island of Guernsey ; where 
they were kept without the use of pen, ink and 



* Biog. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, p. 192. 



150 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



paper, or the access of their friends, till they were 
released by the long parliament* 

Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, and the Rev. 
Mr. Osbaldeston, head-master of Westminster 
school, met with severe hardships by means of 
Archbishop Laud. Bishop Williams had been so 
good a friend to Laud as to persuade King James 
to advance him to a bishopric. But upon the 
accession of King Charles, Laud turned upon his 
benefactor, and supplanted him from favour 
and preferments at court. Upon which Bishop 
Williams retired to his diocese, and spent his time 
in reading and in the good government of his 
diocese. He said once in conversation, " that the 
puritans were the king's best subjects, and he was 
sure would carry all at last ; and that the king 
had told him, " that he would treat the puritans 
more mildly for the future." Laud being informed 
of this expression, caused an information to be 
lodged against him in the Star-Chamber, for 
revealing the king's secrets; but the charge not 
being well supported, a new bill was exhibited 
against him, for tampering with the king's witnesses. 
Consequently the bishop was suspended from all 
his offices and benefices,was fined eleven thousand 



* Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 280. 
See a full account of these sufferers in Brook's Lives of the 
Puritans, vol. iii. 



OSBALDESTON. 



151 



pounds, and to be imprisoned in the Tower during 
the king's pleasure. He was kept a close prisoner 
about four years, till the meeting of the long parlia- 
ment. The Rev. Mr. Osbaldeston was charged with 
plotting with the bishop of Lincoln to divulge false 
news, and to breed a difference between the Lord 
TreasurerWeston and theAi*chbishop of Canterbury 
as long ago as the year 1633. The information 
was grounded upon two letters of Mr. Osbaldeston 
to BishopWilliams, found among the papers of the 
latter, in which were some expressions, which the 
jealous Archbishop interpreted as concerning 
himself. Though there was no foundation for 
conviction, yet the court fined him £ 5000 to the 
King, and £5000. to the Archbishop : to be de- 
prived of all his spiritual dignities and promotions, 
to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure, and to 
stand in the pillory in the Dean's yard before his 
own school, and have his ears nailed to it. How- 
ever, Mr. Osbaldeston so effectually concealed 
himself till the beginning of the long parliament, 
that he fortunately escaped this very severe 
sentence. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Though there had been bishops in Scotland 
for some years, they were, in a great measure, but 
nominal, being subject to a presbyterian assembly. 
The attempt of establishing episcopacy in that 
country in the time of king James, and king 
Charles, was carried on in a rather arbitrary, and 
so unsuccessful a manner. A man of archbishop 
Laud's temper was very unfit to introduce that 
primitive mode of church government among a 
people remarkable for their love of liberty, and 
for sobriety and moral conduct. To impose upon 
that nation a set of canons, a liturgy of Laud's 
revision, and a declaration for sports on the sab- 
bath, were such measures as " proved the fatal 
torch that put the two kingdoms into a flame." # 

When, in the year 1637, the liturgy, revised 
and altered by Laud, was sent into Scotland, and 
accompanied with a royal proclamation, com- 



* Welwood's Memoirs, p. 4$. 



EPISCOPACY IN SCOTLAND. 



153 



manding all his majesty's subjects to receive it ; 
the Scots tumultuously refused it, and afterwards 
assumed to themselves the liberty and power of 
holding a general assembly of their church, in 
which they passed an act for abjuring and abolish- 
ing episcopacy. They also passed sentence of 
deposition against the bishops ; eight of them 
were excommunicated, four excluded from the 
ministerial function, and two only allowed to 
officiate as pastors or presbyters. Upon this, most 
of the bishops withdrew from Scotland, only four 
remained in the country, three of whom renounced 
their episcopal orders, viz. Alexander Ramsey, 
bishop of Dunkeld, George Graham, bishop of 
Orkney, and James Fairby, bishop of Argyle ; 
but the fourth, George Guthrey, bishop of Murray, 
kept his ground, and weathered the storm. 

In consequence of the Scots' assembly abolish- 
ing episcopacy as unlawful, Bishop Hall, at the 
recommendation of Archbishop Laud, undertook 
to write a book in defence of the divine right 
of episcopacy, as a counterbalance to the pro- 
ceedings of the Scots. Bishop Hall sent a rude 
draught or skeleton of his intended work to Arch- 
bishop Laud for his inspection and approbation. 
The following, according to Heylin,* were the 
original points and propositions submitted to the 



* Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 398, 399. 



154 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Archbishop, together with his Grace's remarks, 
and alterations : — " That episcopacy is a lawful, 
most ancient, holy, and divine institution, (as it is 
joined with imparity, and superiority of jurisdic- 
tion) and therefore where it hath through God's 
providence obtained, cannot, by any human power, 
be abdicated without a manifest violation of God's 
ordinance. 

" That the presbyterian government, however 
vindicated under the glorious names of Christ's 
kingdom, and ordinance, hath no true footing 
either in Scripture, or the practice of the church 
in all ages from Christ's till the present ; and that 
howsoever it may be of use, in some cities or 
territories, wherein episcopal government through 
iniquity of times cannot be had ; yet to obtrude it 
upon a church otherwise settled under an acknow- 
ledged monarchy, is utterly incongruous and 
unjustifiable " 

In order to prove these two points, he was to 
lay down some propositions or postulata, as the 
ground work of his proceedings ; which were the 
following, before they were altered and revised : — 

(1) " That government, which was of apostolical 
institution, cannot be denied to be of divine right. 
(2.) Not only that government which was directly 
commanded and enacted, but also that which 
was practised and recommended by the apostles 
to the church, must justly pass for an apostolic 



DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 155 



institution. (3.) That which the apostles by 
Divine inspiration instituted, was not for the pre- 
sent time, but for continuance. (4.) The univer- 
sal practice of the church, immediately succeed- 
ing the apostles, is the best and surest commen- 
tary upon the practice of the apostles, or upon 
their expressions. (5.) We may not entertain so 
irreverent an opinion of the saints and fathers of 
the primitive church, that they who were the 
immediate successors of the apostles would, or 
durst set up a government, either faulty, or of 
their own heads. (6.) If they would have been 
so presumptuous, yet they could not have diffused 
an uniform form of government through the world 
in so short a space. (7.) The ancient histories 
of the church, and writings of the eldest fathers, 
are rather to be believed in the report of the primi- 
tive form of the church government, than those of 
this last age. (8.) Those whom the ancient 
church of God, and the holy and orthodox fathers 
condemned for heretics, are not iit to be followed 
as authors of our opinion or practice for church 
government. (9.) The accession of honourable 
titles or privileges, makes no difference in the 
substance of the calling. (10.) Those scriptures 
wherein a new form of government is grounded, 
have need to be very clear and unquestionable, 
and more evident than those whereon the former 
rejected polity is raised. (11.) If that order 



156 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



which, they say, Christ set for the government of 
the church (which they call the kingdom and 
ordinance of Christ) be but one, and undoubted, 
then it would, and shall have been ere this, agreed 
upon against them, what, and which it is. (12.) If 
this (which they pretend) be the kingdom, and 
ordinance of Christ, then if any essential part of it 
be wanting, Christ's kingdom is not erected in the 
church. (13.) Christian polity requires no impos- 
sible or absurd thing. (14.) Those tenets which 
are new and unheard of in all ages of the church, 
(in many and essential points) are well worthy to 
be suspected. (15.) To depart from the practice 
of the universal church of Christ, (even from the 
apostles' times) and to betake ourselves volunta- 
tarily to a new form, lately taken up, cannot but 
be odious and highly scandalous." 

" These first delineations of the portraiture," 
says Heylin, " being sent to Lambeth in the end 
of October, 1639, were generally well approved 
of by the Metropolitan. Some lines there were 
which he thought too much shadow and umbrage 
might be taken at them, if not otherwise qualified 
with a more perfect ray of light. And thereupon 
he takes the pencil in his hand, ? and with some 
alterations, accompanied with many kind expres- 
sions of a fair acceptance, he sent them back 
again to be completely limned and coloured by 
that able hand." 



DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 157 

The following were the remarks and alterations 
made by Laud, in a letter to Bishop Hall. 

" Since you are pleased so worthily and bro- 
ther-like to acquaint me with the whole plot of 
your intended work, and to yield it up to my 
censure and better advise, (so you are pleased to 
write) I do not only thank you heartily for it, but 
shall in the same brotherly way, and with equal 
freedom, put some few animadversions, such as 
occur on the sudden, to your further considera- 
tion, aiming at nothing but what you do, the 
perfection of the work in which so much is 
concerned. And first, for Mr. George Graham, 
(whom, Bishop Hall had signified to have re- 
nounced his episcopal function) I leave you free 
to work upon his business and his ignorance as 
you please, assuring myself that you will not 
depart from the gravity of yourself, or the cause 
therein. Next you say in the first head, That 
episcopacy is an ancient ■, holy, and divine institu- 
tion. It must needs be ancient and holy if divine. 
Would it not be more full went it thus ? — So 
ancient, as that it is of divine institution. Next 
you define episcopacy by being joined with 
imparity and superiority of jurisdiction, but this 
seems short; for every archpresbyter's or arch- 
deacon's place is so ; yea, and so was Mr. Hen- 
derson in his chair at Glasgow, unless you will 
define it by a distinction of order. I draw the 



158 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

superiority, not from the jurisdiction which is 
attributed to bishops jure positivo, in their audi- 
ence of ecclesiastical matters ; but from that 
which is intrinsical and original in the power of 
excommunication. Again, you say in the first 
point, That where episcopacy hath obtained, it 
cannot be abdicated without violation of God's 
ordinance. This proposition I conceive is inter 
minus habentes; for never was there any church 
yet, where it hath not obtained. The christian 
faith was never yet planted any where, but the 
very first feature of a church was by, or with 
episcopacy. And wheresoever now episcopacy 
is not suffered to be, it is by such an abdication, 
for certainly there it was a priticipio. In your 
second head, you grant that the presbyterian 
government may be of use, where episcopacy 
may not be had. First, I pray you consider 
whether this conversion be not needless here, 
and in itself of a dangerous consequence. Next 
I conceive there is no place where episcopacy 
may not be had, if there be a church more than in 
title only. Thirdly, since they challenge their 
presbyterian fiction to be Christ's kingdom and 
ordinance, (as yourself expresseth) and cast out 
episcopocy as opposite to it, we must not use any 
mincing terms, but unmask them plainly ; nor 
shall I ever give way to hamper ourselves for fear 
of speaking plain truth, though it be against 



DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 159 

Amsterdam or Geneva: and this must be sadly 
thought on. 

Concerning your postidata, I shall pray you to 
allow me the like freedom ; amongst which the 
two first are true, but, as exprest, too restrictive. 
For episcopacy is not so to be asserted unto 
apostolical institution, as to bar it from looking 
higher, and from fetching it materially and origi- 
nally in the ground and intention of it, from Christ 
himself; though perhaps the apostles formalized it. 
And here give me leave a little to enlarge. The 
adversaries of episcopacy are not only the furious 
Arian heretics, (out of which are now raised 
Prynne, Bastwick, and our Scottish masters) but 
some also of a milder and subtiler alloy, both in 
the Genevan and Roman faction. And it will 
become the Church of England so to vindicate it 
against the furious Puritans, as that we may not 
lay it open to be wounded by either of the other 
two, more cunning, and more learned adver- 
saries. Not to the Roman faction, for that will 
be content, it shall be Juris divini mediati, by, 
far from, and under the pope, that so the govern- 
ment of the church may be monarchical in him ; 
but not immediate which makes the church aris- 
tocratical in the bishops. This is the Italian 
rock, not the Genevan; for that will not deny 
episcopacy to be Juris divini, so you will take it, 
ut suadentis vel approbantis, so you will not take 



160 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

it as universaliter imperantis ; for then Geneva 
might escape ; et extra consider ationem durantis ; 
for then, though they had it before, yet now upon 
wiser thoughts they may be without it, which 
Scotland, says now, and who will may say it after, 
if this be good divinity : and then all in that time 
shall be democratical. I am bold to add, because 
in your second postidatum, I find that episcopacy 
is directly commanded ; but you go not so far as 
to meet with this subtilty of Beza, which is the 
great rock in the lake of Geneva. In your nine 
postulatum, that the accession of honourable 
titles, or privileges, makes no difference in the 
substance of the calling, you mean the titles of 
Archbishops, Primates, Metropolitans, Patriarchs, 
&c. 'Tiswell; and I presume you do so: but 
then in any case take heed you assert it so, as 
that the faction lay not hold of it, as if the bishops 
were but the title of honour, and the same calling 
with a priest ; for that they all aim at, &c. The 
eleventh postulatum is larger, and I shall not 
repeat it, because 1 am sure you retain a copy of 
what you write to me, being the ribs of the work ; 
nor shall I say more to it, than that it must be 
warily handled for fear of a saucy answer, which 
is more ready with them a great deal than a 
learned one. I presume I am pardoned already 
for this freedom by your submission of all to me. 
And now I heartily pray you to send me up, 



DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 16J 

(keeping a copy to yourself against the accidents 
of carriage) not the whole work together, but 
each particular head or postulatum, as you finish 
it; that so we here maybe the better able to 
consider of it, and the work come on faster. So 
to God's blessed protection," &c. &c. 

Such was the freedom Archbishop Laud took 
with Bishop Hall, and the judgment he passed 
upon the outlines of the work ; and Heylin tells 
us " that the bishop of Exon found good cause to 
correct the obliquity of his opinion" according to 
the above animadversions. When Bishop Hall 
finished his treatise, he submitted it, before it went 
to press, to the final perusal of the archbishop, 
who read it over with care and diligence. The 
treatise was, in some places, altered by the arch- 
bishop, contrary to Bishop Hall's inclinations. 
Notice was taken that Bishop Hall had spoken 
too favourably of the morality of the sabbath ; and 
that the superstition of the Sabbatarians was but 
slightly touched upon ; whereas the archbishop 
" thought that some smarter plaister to that sore 
might have done no harm."' His Grace disap- 
proved of Bishop Hall's waving the question, 
Whether episcopacy was a distinct order, or only 
an higher degree of the same order ; and of his 
advancing the divine right of episcopacy no higher 
than the apostles ; whereas he woidd have it derived 

M 



162 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



from Christ himself. Upon this the archbishop 
observed, that " in the judgment of such learned 
men as he had consulted, it was the main ground 
of the whole cause; and therefore he desired him 
to weigh it well, and to alter it with his own pen 
as soon as might be." His Grace also was not 
pleased with the sentiment, that presbytery ivas of 
use, where episcopacy could not be obtained. But 
that which gave him the greatest offence was, 
that Bishop Hall had positively and determi- 
nately bestowed the title of Antichrist upon the 
pope : this His Grace would by no means allow, 
as being so contrary to the judgment of many 
learned protestants, as well as his own. The arch- 
bishop thought fit to acquaint the king with this,and 
so to submit it to the royal will and pleasure: and 
respecting which, he wrote thus to Bishop Hall : 
" The last (with which I durst not but acquaint 
His Majesty) is about Antichrist, which title in 
three or four places you bestow upon the pope 
positively and determinately ; whereas king James 
of blessed memory, having brought strong proof 
in a work of his, as you well know, to prove the 
pope to be Antichrist ; yet being afterwards chal- 
lenged about it, he made this answer, when the 
king, that now is, went into Spain, and acquainted 
him with it, That he writ that not concludingly, 
but by way of argument only, that the pope and 
his adherents might see, there was as good and 



DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 163 



better arguments to prove him Antichrist, than 
for the pope to challenge temporal jurisdiction 
over kings. The whole passage being known to 
me, I could not but speak with the king about it, 
who commanded me to write unto you, that you 
might qualify your expression in these particulars, 
and so not differ from the known judgment of his 
pious and learned father. This is easily done 
with your own pen, and the rather, because all 
protestants join not in this opinion of Antichrist!' 
According to this advice, Bishop Hall complied, 
though contrary to his own sentiments, to qualify 
some of his expressions, and to expunge others, 
" to the contentment of his sovereign, the satis- 
faction of his metropolitan, and his own great 
honour."* So, in some few things, the celebrated 
treatise upon the Divine Right of Episcopacy, was 
modelled according to the views and sentiments 
of Laud. It is evident from the above remarks 
of the archbishop, that Bishop Hall was one of 
those bishops, who did not insist upon reading 
the book of sports, but duly regarded the morality 
of the sabbath. Heylin informs us, that all the 
bishops did not join their hearts and hands 
together in carrying on the work of uniformity 
according to Archbishop Laud's plan, but threw 



* Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 400, 405, 406. Neal's Hist, 
of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 322. 

M 2 



164 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



obstacles in the way, and exposed the measures 
of Laud to the public hatred. " For such was 
their desire," says he, ' * to ingratiate themselves 
amongst the people, that some of them being 
required to return the names of such ministers as 
refused the reading of the book, (of sports) made 
answer, that they would not turn informers against 
their brethren, there being enough besides them- 
selves to perform that office. Others conceived, 
that they had very well performed their duty, and 
consulted their own peace and safety also, by 
waving all proceedings against them in their own 
consistories, wherein they must appear as the 
principal agents, and turning them over to be 
censured by the High Commission, where their 
names might never come in question." * 

Bishop Hall himself tells us, that he had been 
charged with being too favourable to those who 
were denominated puritans, merely because they 
were conscientious and diligent in the discharge 
of their duties : and on that account that he had 
been misrepresented and complained of to his 
metropolitan. We may probably conclude, that 
one reason why Laud recommended Bishop Hall 
to writejon the Divine Right of Episcopacy was 
to try him whether his view of episcopacy was 



* Hevlin's Life of Laud, p. 313. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 165 

what it should be; for he was suspected, on 
account of his moderation and piety, to entertain 
some " obliquity of opinion." * 

Bishop Hall dedicated his Treatise on the 
Divine Right of Episcopacy to Charles L in which 
he states that he undertook the work on account 
that episcopacy had suffered in the north, mean- 
ing Scotland, " to the height of patience ;" that it 
was 6 ' reported that one George Grahame, bishop 
of Orkney, had openly, before the whole body of 
the assembly, renounced his episcopal function, 
and craved pardon for having accepted it, as if 
thereby he had committed some heinous offence." 
The Bishop also intimates that he had " met with 
some affronts" within his own diocese of Exeter 
and jurisdiction. 

Bishop Hall was the most celebrated writer of 
his times in defence of the Church of England ; 
and his Treatise on the Divine Right of Episco- 
pacy is a proof of his deep research, erudition, 
and piety; he brings forward such proofs and 
arguments for episcopacy as cannot be shaken, 
and in the conclusion of the Treatise he recapitu- 
lates the several heads of the subject, and, with 
zeal and pious earnestness, addresses his readers 
and brethren, saying, " for Christ's sake, for the 



* See Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 402. 



166 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



church's sake, for your souls' sake, be exhorted 
to hold fast to this holy institution of your blessed 
Saviour and his unerring Apostles ; and bless God 
for episcopacy. Do but cast your eyes a little 
back, and see what noble instruments of God's 
glory he hath been pleased to raise up in this very 
church of ours, out of this sacred vocation : what 
famous servants of God ; what strong champions 
of truth, and renowned antagonists of Rome and 
her superstitions; what admirable preachers; 
what incomparable writers ; yea, what constant 
and undaunted martyrs and confessors; men, 
that gave their blood for the Gospel; and 
embraced their faggots flaming, which many gre- 
gary (ordinary, or common) professors held 
enough to carry cold and painless, to the wonder 
and gratulation of all foreign churches, and to the 
unparallelled glory of his church and nation? 

" What christian church under heaven hath, in 
so short a time, yielded so many glorious lights of 
the gospel, so many able and prevalent adver- 
saries of schism and antichristianism, so many 
eminent authors of learned works, which shall out- 
bid time itself. Let envy grind her teeth: the 
memory of these worthy Prelates shall be ever 
sweet and blessed. 

" Neither doubt I, but that it will please God, 
out of the same rod of Aaron still to raise such 
blossoms and fruit, as shall win him glory to all 



/ 



BAGSHAW. 



167 



eternity. Go you on to honour these your reve- 
rend pastors; to hate all factious withdrawings 
from that government, which comes the nearest 
of any church upon earth to the apostolical."* 

Through the overbearing conduct of Laud, both 
in civil and ecclesiastical affairs on the one hand, 
and the factious and turbulent spirit of the separa- 
tists on the other, the tranquillity of the church 
was much disturbed. JBagshaiv, a lawyer of some 
standing in the Middle Temple, being elected a 
Reader or Lecturer in that house for the Lent 
vacation, boldly laid the axe to* the root of episco- 
pacy, by calling into question the right of bishops 
to have place and vote in Parliament, and their 
power and authority altogether. In his Lectures 
on the 25th Edw. III. c. 7, he maintained that 
Acts of Parliament were valid without the assent 
of the lords spiritual. That no beneficed clerk 
was capable of temporal j urisdiction at the mak- 
ing that law ; and, that no bishop, without calling 
a synod, had power as a diocesan, to convict a 
heretic. — Laud, when informed of this, told the 
king that Bagshaw had justified the Scots Cove 
nanters in decrying the temporal jurisdiction of 
churchmen, and the undoubted right of the 
bishops to their seats in parliament : upon which 



* See Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, pp. 623, 624. 



168 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Bagshaw was immediately interdicted all further 
reading on those points; and though he humbly 
petitioned the Lord Keeper and the Archbishop 
for liberty to proceed, he could get no other 
answer, than 4 'it had been better for him not to 
have meddled with that argument, which should 
stick closer to him than he was aware of."* 
Whereupon he retired into the country. 

The year 1640 began with a Parliament and 
Convocation. Such was now the state of affairs, 
that the king was under the necessity of calling a 
parliament, after an intermission of nearly twelve 
years, in order to renew the war with Scotland. 
The two houses assembled according to their 
summons, in the month of April, with the usual 
formalities. The king condescended to open the 
parliament with only the following short speech 
from the throne : — 

" My Lords and Gentlemen, 

" There never was a king that had a more 
great and weighty cause to call his people together 
than myself. I will not trouble you with the 
particulars : I have informed my Lord Keeper 
and commanded him to speak, and to desire 
your attention." 



* Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 406, 407. Neal's Hist, of the 
Puritans, vol. ii, p. 323. 



MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. 16*9 

This short speech appears a kind of preface to 
Sir John Finch, the Lord Keepers long speech, 
in which he commented on the proceedings of the 
Scots against the king, and his Majesty's urgent 
want of supply towards vindicating his honour, 
and intimated to them also at the same time that 
his Majesty was far from intending to preclude 
them from their right of enquiring into the state 
of the kingdom, and of offering him petitions for 
redress of grievances. But the Commons, instead 
of beginning with the supply according to his 
Majesty's wish, appointed committees for reli- 
gion and grievances, which disobliged the king so 
much, that after several fruitless attempts to per- 
suade them to grant him a subsidy, he dissolved 
the parliament in displeasure, without passing a 
single act, after they had sat about three weeks. 

But other means of obtaining a subsidy were 
employed, which were highly offensive and griev- 
ous to the people. The odium of these proceed- 
ings fell on Laud and Strafford, who were libelled 
and threatened with the fury of the populace. In 
the month of May, 1640, the archbishop's palace 
at Lambeth was attacked by the mob ; one of the 
ringleaders was apprehended and suffered death. 
During this month, and the whole summer, there 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 528. 



170 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



was much disturbance both in London and in the 
country. 

The convocation which sat with this parlia- 
was opened April 14, next day after opening of 
parliament, with much more splendour and mag- 
nificence than the situation of affairs required. 
The convocation sermon was preached by Dr. 
Turner, Canon Residentiary of St. Pauls, from 
Matt, xvi, 16. " Behold, I send you forth as sheep 
among wolves :" after which they adjourned to 
the Chapter House, where the king's writ of 
summons being read, the archbishop, in a Latin 
speech, recommended to the lower house the 
electing of a prolocutor, to be presented to him- 
self or his commissary in the chapel of Henry VII. 
on Friday following, to which time and place the 
convocation was adjourned. 

On April 17, after divine service, Dr. Steward, 
Dean of Chichester and Clerk of the Closet, was 
presented to the archbishop as prolocutor, whom 
his Grace approved of, and then produced his 
Majesty's commission under the great seal, autho- 
rizing him to " consult and agree upon the expla- 
nation or amendment of any canons then in force, 
or for making such new ones, as should be 
thought convenient for the government of the 
church." The commission was to remain in force 
during the present session of parliament, and no 
longer ; and by a singular clause, nothing was to 



CONVOCATION. 



171 



be concluded without the archbishop being a 
party in the consultation. The latitude of this 
commisssion was very acceptable to the majority 
of the convocation ; and in return for this testi- 
mony of his Majesty's confidence, they voted him 
six subsidies, to be paid him in six years, at the 
rate of four shillings in the pound. The arch- 
bishop brought in some other canons against 
papists, against the spread of Socinian heresy ; 
and it was also then decreed that the proceedings 
and penalties against popish recusants should, as 
far as they are applicable, stand in full force 
against all separatists and sects, who refuse 
repairing to their parish churches, for hearing 
divine service, and receiving the holy commu- 
nion. 

Thus far the convocation proceeded, when the 
parliament was suddenly dissolved. The convo- 
cation, according to ancient custom, should have 
broke up at the same time ; but that one of the 
lower house having acquainted Laud with a pre- 
cedent in the 27th year of Queen Elizabeth, of 
the convocation's granting a subsidy to be raised 
upon all the clergy, after the breaking up of 
parliament, and levying it by their own synodical 
act only, under the penalty of ecclesiastical cen- 
sures. Hence it was concluded that the convo- 
cation might sit independent of the parliament, 



172 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

and therefore, instead of dissolving, they only 
adjourned for a few days to take further advice.* 

Laud relying upon this single precedent, ap- 
plied to the king for a commission to continue 
the convocation during his Majesty's pleasure, in 
order to finish the canons and constitutions, and 
to grant the subsidies already voted. The case 
being referred to the judges, the majority of 
whom gave it as their opinion, " that the convo- 
cation, being called by the king's writ under the 
great seal, doth continue till it be dissolved by 
writ or commission under the great seal, notwith- 
standing the parliament be dissolved." 

Signed May 14, 1640, by John Finch, C.M.S. 

H. MANCHESTER, f ROB. HEATH, 

J. BRAMSTON, EDW. LITTLETON, 

RALPH WHITFIELD, I J. BANKS. 

Upon this a commission under the great seal was 
granted, and the convocation was re-assembled, 
though the opinion of several gentlemen of the 
long robe, and of many others, was against it.f 
But the convocation was further encouraged to 
proceed by his Majesty's message sent by Sir 
H. Vane, Secretary of State, who acquainted 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp. 528, 529. 

t See Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix, p. 168. Neal's Hist, of 
the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 327, &c. Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 
42$-429. 



CONVOCATION. 



173 



them, " that it was his royal pleasure that none 
of the prelates or clergy should withdraw from 
the synod or convocation till the affairs they had 
in command from the king were perfected and 
finished." 

Upon this dubious foundation the convocation 
was continued, and a committee of twenty- six 
appointed to prepare matters for the debate of 
the house ; but the mob being so furious as to 
threaten to pull down the convocation house, 
the king ordered a guard of the Middlesex 
militia, commanded by Endymion Porter, groom 
of the bed-chamber, a papist, to protect the 
Synod. It was dissolved on the 29th of May by 
a special mandate or writ from his Majesty, after 
it had continued twenty-five sessions. The 
Canons, after being approved by the privy coun- 
cil, were subscribed by as many of both houses 
of convocation as were present, and then trans- 
mitted to the provincial Synod of York, by which 
they were subscribed at once, without so much 
as debating either matter or form. Neal says in 
his History of the Puritans, vol. ii, pp. 328-329, 
that " Dr. John Williams, bishop of Lincoln, 
was in the Tower, and had no concern with the 
Canons. Dr. Goodman, bishop of Gloucester, 
a concealed papist, was the only prelate who 
declined the subscription; till the Archbishop 
threatened him with deprivation, and the rest of 



174 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



his brethren pressing him to comply, he was 
persuaded to put his name to the book: but 
several of the members of the lower house 
avoided the test by withdrawing before the day 
of subscription; for, of above one hundred and 
sixty, of which both houses of convocation con- 
sisted, there were not many more than one 
hundred names to the book." Heylin, in his 
Life of Archbishop Laud, contradicts the above 
account of Neal, and says that the Canons were 
approved by all the Clergy, " who were called 
up to the house of bishops to be present at the 
subscribing of them, which was accordingly per- 
formed May 29th, by the bishops, deans, and 
archdeacons in their seniority, and promiscuously 
by the rest of the clergy, till all the members had 
subscribed; every man's heart going together 
with his hand, as it is to be presumed from all 
men of that holy profession. Recusant there was 
none, but the bishop of Gloucester.* 

The irregularity however of continuing the 
synod after the dissolution of parliament has been 
concluded hence, that the convocation consisting 
of bishops, deans, archdeacons, and clerks, the 
three former act in their personal capacities only, 
and may give for themselves what subsidies they 



* Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 445, 446. 



CANONS. 



175 



please. But the clerks being chosen for their 
respective cathedrals or dioceses, to sit as long as 
the parliament continues, desist from being public 
persons, as soon as it is dissolved, and lose the 
character of representatives ; they are then no 
more than private clergymen, who, though they 
may give the king what sums of money they please 
for themselves, cannot vote away the estates of 
their brethren, unless they are re-elected. It was 
also contrary to all law and custom, both before 
and since the act of submission of the clergy to 
Henry VIII, except in the single instance of 
Queen Elizabeth. # 

The canons of this synod consisted of seventeen 
articles, and were published June 30, 1640. The 
following is an abstract of those canons, which 
were made the subject of so much contention and 
debate in the next parliament. The reader may 
judge for himself about the offence given on one 
side, and the revenge taken on the other. 

1. The first Canon is concerning regal power, 
where it is decreed that the order of kings is of 
divine right, being the ordinance of God himself, 
founded on the Laws of nature and revelation, by 
which the supreme power over all persons, eccle- 
siastical and civil, is given to them; that they 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Euglaod, vol. ii, p. 530. Neal's 
Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 329. 



176 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



have the care of God's church, aud the power of 
dissolving both national and provincial councils : 
that for any persons to set up in the king's realms 
any independent coercive power, either papal or 
popular, is treasonable against God, and the king; 
and for subjects to bear arms against the king, 
either offensive or defensive, upon any pretence 
whatever, is at least to resist the powers ordained 
of God ; and though they do not invade but only 
resist, St. Paul says, " They shall receive damna- 
tion." Though tribute, custom, aid, and subsidy 
be due to the king by the law of God, nature and 
nations, yet subjects have a right and property in 
their goods and estates, &c. That if any clergy- 
man should neglect to publish these explications, 
upon one Sunday in every quarter of the year, he 
shall be suspended ; or if in any sermon, or public 
lecture, he shall maintain any position contrary 
to it, he shall be excommunicated and suspended 
for two years ; and offending a second time, shall 
be deprived. 

2. Here it is decreed that the day of the king's 
inauguration should be observed with morning 
prayers and a sermon, at which all persons shall 
be present. 

3. In this, the suppressing of the growth of 
Popery is intended, &c. 

4. This decrees that no person shall import, 



CANONS. 



177 



disperse, or print any Socinian books, on pain of 
excommunication, &c. 

5. This ordains that the canon against Papists, 
shall be in force against sectaries, as far as it 
is applicable ; and the clause against the books 
of Socinians, should be in force against all the 
books that are written against the doctrine and 
government of the church. 

6. This decreed the following oath to be taken 
by all archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, 
before a public notary within six months: — I, 
A.B. do swear, that I do approve the doctrine, 
and discipline, or government established in the 
Church of England, as containing all things 
necessary to salvation ; and that I will not endea- 
vor, by myself or any other, directly or indirectly, 
to bring in Popish doctrine, contrary to that 
which is established ; nor will 1 ever give my 
consent to alter the government of this church by 
archbishops, bishops, deans, and archdeacons, 
&c. as it stands now established, and as by right 
it ought to stand, nor yet ever to subject it to the 
usurpations and superstitions of the see of Rome. 
And all these things I do plainly aud sincerely 
acknowledge and swear, according to the plain 
and common sense and understanding of the 
same words, without any equivocation, or mental 
evasions, or secret reservation whatever; and 
this I do heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the 

N 



178 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



faith of a Christian. So help me God in Jesus 
Christ." 

If any beneficed person in the church refused 
this oath, he was, after a month, suspended from 
his office ; after a second month, from his bene- 
fice ; and after a third, deprived. All the 
members of the universities, or those who have 
taken a degree, as lawyers, physicians, &c. were 
required to take this oath : and all governors of 
halls and colleges, all schoolmasters, candidates 
for holy orders, and those who have licence to 
preach. 

7. This canon declares that the placing the 
communion table at the east end of the church 
is in its own nature indifferent ; nor does it imply 
that it is, or ought to be esteemed a proper altar, 
though it may be called so in the sense of the 
primitive church : but as Queen Elizabeth's iu- 
junctions have ordered it to be placed where the 
altar was, it was judged proper that all churches 
and chapels should conform to that order. And 
it is recommended to all people, that they do 
reverence at their entries in and going out of the 
church ; and that all communicants come to the 
rails to receive the communion, which has been 
heretofore carried up and down. 

8. This canon enjoins all public preachers to 
declare positively and plainly, twice a year, that 



CANONS. 



179 



the rites and ceremonies of the church are lawful, 
to which it is the duty of all people to conform. 

9. By this it was decreed that no other articles 
of enquiry should be used at visitations, than 
what were contained in a book to be drawn up 
by this synod. 

10. The subject of this is the regular and moral 
conversation of the clergy. 

11. The bishops were to grant no patent to 
chancellors, or officials, for any term longer than 
their lives, and to reserve in their own hands the 
power of instituting to benefices, and of licensing 
to preach. 

12. No lay chancellor, or commissary, shall 
inflict any censure upon the clergy, for any crimi- 
nal causes, except neglect of appearing: all 
others are to be heard by the bishop, or with the 
assistance of his chancellor, and if the bishop 
cannot attend, by the chancellor assisted with two 
grave divines of the diocese, appointed by the 
bishop. 

13. No sentence of excommunication, or abso- 
lution, is allowed to be pronounced by any but a 
priest, either in open consistory or in the church, 
having first received it under the seal of an eccle- 
siastical judge. 

14. This admits of no commutation of penance, 
without consent of the bishop ; and the money to 
be disposed of to charitable uses. 



180 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



15. No executor shall be cited into any court 
or office, within ten days after the death of the 
testator, though he may prove the will within such 
a time. 

16. No other licence to marry, but the arch- 
bishop's, is allowed by this canon to any party ; 
unless the man or woman shall have lived in the 
jurisdiction of the ordinary to whom they apply, 
a month before the licence is desired. 

17. The last canon forbids a citation from 
spiritual courts, except under the hand and seal 
of one of the judges within thirty days after the 
crime is committed ; and until the party is con- 
victed by two witnesses, he may purge himself 
by oath, without paying any fee, provided the 
canon does not extend to schism, incontinence, 
misbehaviour at divine service, obstinate incon- 
formity, or the like." # 

When these canons were published, they were 
generally disliked ; and several pamphlets were 
written against them. Some objected to the first 
as subversive of the English constitution, because 
it declares in favour of the absolute power of 
kings, and that it is unlawful to use defensive arms 
on any pretence whatever against the king. The 



* Warners Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp. 530-533. 
Heylin's Life of Laud, fol. ed. pp. 422-440. Neai's Hist, of 
tiie Puritans, vol. ii, pp. 329-336. 



CANONS. 



181 



puritans disapproved of the fifth, sixth, seventh, 
and eighth canons : but all the clergy were nearly 
concerned in the sixth, being required by the 2d 
of November to take the oath mentioned therein. 
The London clergy and others drew up a petition 
against the oath to the privy council. Petitions 
from most counties in England were made against 
it : some complaining of it as contrary to the oath 
of supremacy, and others of the et cetera in the 
middle. Others objected to the authority of the 
synod to impose an oath ; and many confessed 
that they wished some things in the discipline of 
the church might be altered, and therefore could 
not swear never to attempt it in a proper way. 
Some of the bishops endeavoured to satisfy the 
scruples of their clergy by giving the most favour- 
able interpretation of the oath. Bishop Hall told 
them that it only meant as follows : " That I do 
so far approve of the discipline and doctrine of 
this church, as that I do believe there is nothing 
in any other pretended discipline or doctrine 
necessary to salvation, besides that which is con- 
tained in the doctrine and discipline of the church 
of England. And as I do allow the government 
by archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, so 
I will not, upon the suggestion of any factious 
persons, go about to alter the same as it now 
stands, and as by due right (being so established) 



182 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



it ought to stand in the church of England."* — 
But many of the bishops compelled their clergy 
to take the oath ; and Fuller, in his Church His- 
tory, tells us,f that to his certain knowledge 
some of the bishops obliged them to take it kneel- 
ing, a ceremony never required in taking the oaths 
of allegiance and supremacy. Such severe and 
unbecoming degree of power some of the bishops 
then assumed ! 

Dr. Sanderson, afterwards bishop of Lincoln, 
acquainted the archbishop, by letter, with the 
difficulties of enforcing the oath; he observed, 
" that multitudes of churchmen, not only of 
the preciser sort, but of such as were regular 
and conformable, would utterly refuse to take 
the oath, or be brought to it with much diffi- 
culty and reluctance; so that, unless by his 
Majesty's special direction, the pressing the oath 
may be forborn for a time ; or that, a short expla- 
nation of some passages in it, most liable to 
exception, be sent to the several persons who are 
to administer the same, to be publicly read before 
the tender of the said oath, the peace of this 
church is apparently in danger to be more dis- 
quieted by this one occasion, than by any thing 
that has happened within our memories." 



* Nalson's Collection, p. 496, &c. 
t Book xi, p. 171. 



CANONS. 



183 



It is certain that this oath was much disliked 
by almost all the clergy, who, with others, joined 
in petition against it to the king, who w 7 as pleased 
to send the following letter to the archbishop of 
Canterbury, under the hand of the secretary of 
state. 

" May it please your Grace : 

I am by his Majesty's command to let you 
know, that upon many petitions presented by 
divers churchmen, as well in the diocese of Can- 
terbury as York, to which many hands are sub- 
scribed, as the mode of petitions now are, against 
the oath in the canons made in the last synod, his 
Majesty's pleasure is, that as he took order before 
his coming into these parts, that the execution of 
neither should be pressed on those that were 
already beneficed in the church, which was 
ordered at the council board in your Grace's 
presence, but that it should be administered 
to those who were to receive orders and to be 
admitted ; it is his Majesty's pleasure, that those 
should be dispensed with also, and that there be 
no prosecution thereof till the meeting of the 
convocation. 

York, Sept. 30, 1640. " H. VANE." * 



* Nalson's Collection, p. 500. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, 
vol. ii, p. 337. 



184 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



We have seen above* the opinion of Bishop Hall 
with regard to this troublesome oath, and he tells 
us also in the tract called, " Some Specialities in 
his Life," written by himself, that in consequence 
of this oath, and some other opposition, his peace 
was much disturbed : " What messages of caution 
I had from some of my wary brethren, and what 
expostulatory letters I had from above, ffrom 
Archbishop Laud) I need not relate. Sure I am, 
I had peace and comfort at home, in the happy 
sense of that general unanimity and loving cor- 
respondence of my clergy, till, in the last year of 
my presiding there, (as bishop of Exeter) after the 
synodical oath was set on foot, ( which yet 1 did 
never tender to any ,one minister of my diocese ) by 
the incitation of some busy interlopers of the 
neighbour country." 

With regard to this unpopular oath, we dis- 
cover in Bishop Hall such moderation and temper 
highly becoming a christian bishop. 

Amidst much factious and discontented spirit 
of many of the English, the king was obliged to 
prepare to go to war with the Scots, who had 
now a second time marched an army to the bor- 
ders, and were ready to invade the English side. 
An army was raised, and the king in person 
commanded it: the Earls of Northumberland 



* Page 181. 



WAR WITH THE SCOTS. 



185 



and Strafford were appointed generals, and Lord 
Conway general of the cavalry. It soon appeared 
that some of the English nobility were not for 
conquering the Scots, and the soldiers manifested 
no zeal for his Majesty's cause ; so that after a 
small skirmish, the Scots army passed the Tweed, 
Aug. 21, and on the 30th took possession of New- 
castle, the king's army retreating as far as York, 
leaving them masters of Northumberland, Cum- 
berland, and Durham, where they subsisted their 
army, and raised what contributions they pleased. 

In this situation of affairs, a petition, signed by 
twelve English peers, was sent to his Majesty, to 
discontinue the war, complaining of many griev- 
ances, as the inconveniences of carrying on the 
war with the Scots, the increase of popery, &c. 
and of the canons made in the last convocation. 
The city of London also petitioned, and the Scots 
themselves tendered to his Majesty certain terms 
of accommodation. The king, finding it impossi- 
ble to carry on the war, appointed commissioners 
to treat with the Scots at Rippon, who agreed to 
a cessation of arms for two months from the 
26th of October, the Scots to have £850. a day 
towards the subsistence of their army;*' and the 
treaty to be adjourned to London, where a par- 
liament was immediately to be convened. 



See Harris's Life of Charles f. p. 364, Ed. 1814. 



CHAPTER V. 



On the 3d of November, 1640, this famous 
parliament met, which has been called the long 
parliament, because it continued sitting with some 
little intermission for above eighteen years : it 
occasioned such extraordinary revolutions in 
church and state, as were the scandal of their 
own country, and the surprise of other countries.* 
On the day of opening the parliament, his Majesty 
declined the usual way of riding in state from 
Whitehall to Westminster, but went by water, 
accompanied with several peers of the realm. 
The king, in his speech from the throne, declared 
his readiness to redress all just grievances ; but 
some offence was taken, by his Majesty calling 
the Scots, rebels, when there was a pacification 
subsisting. 



* Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 454-458. Neal's Hist, of the 
Puritans, vol. ii, p. 338. Dugdale's Short View, pp. 63, 64, 
65. Harris' Life of Charles I, p. 360, &c. Ed. 1814. Warner's 
Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 533. 



MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. 



187 



Before the session of parliament " the principal 
members consulted measures for securing the 
frequency of parliaments ; for redressing of griev- 
ances in church and state : and for bringing the 
king's arbitrary ministers to justice," in order to 
accomplish which, it was thought expedient to set 
some bounds to the prerogative, and to diminish 
the power of the bishops : probably they did not 
at first intend to overturn the civil and ecclesiasti- 
cal constitutions, and that they would have been 
satisfied with a certain degree of reform in church 
and state ; but in their proceedings, they went to 
such extremes as involved both in ruin. 

At their first entrance upon business, four com- 
mittees were appointed : the first to receive peti- 
tions about religious grievances ; the second, for 
the affairs of Scotland and Ireland ; the third, 
for civil grievances ; and the fourth, concerning 
popery, plots, &c. # About the 9th of November, 



* Both houses petitioned his Majesty to appoint a fast for a 
divine blessing upon their councels, which was observed Nov, 17. 
Rev. Mr. Marshall and Mr. Burgess, two eminent puritan 
divines, preached before the Commons, the former on 2Chron. 
xv, 2, " The Lord is with you, while you are with him ; if you 
seek him he will be found of you, but if you forsake him he will 
forsake you." The latter on Jer. 1, 5, " They shall ask the way 
to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us 
join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall 
not be forgotten." The sermons were long, but delivered, says 
Neal, with a great deal of caution: the house gave them thanks, 
and a piece of plate for their labors. The bishops of Durham 
and Carlisle preached before the House of Lords in the Abbey 



188 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



" a great number of petitions was presented both 
from particular persons, and some from multi- 
tudes, and brought by troops of horsemen from 
several counties, craving redress of grievances in 
church and state."* 

Among the grievances of religion, one of the 
first things that came before the house was the 
acts and canons of the late convocation. Several 
virulent speeches were made against the compi- 
lers. Neal says that no one stood up in the behalf 
of the canons but Mr. Holbourn, who is said to 
have made a speech of two hours in their vindi- 
cation;! but his arguments made no impression 
on the house, so that at the close of the debate 
it was unanimously resolved, — 

" That the clergy of England, convened in any 
convocation or synod, or otherwise, have no 
power to make any constitutions, canons, or acts 



Church of Westminster. On the following Sunday all the 
members received the sacrament from the hands of Bishop 
Williams, Dean of Westminster. See Neat's Hist, of the Puri- 
tans, vol. ii, p. 348. 

* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 3. " The 
first step they made was the entertaining petitions of grievances 
from all parts of the realm, which made such a noise, as if the 
subjects of England had suffered under the greatest slavery and 
oppression that had ever been heard of; and, (being devised 
and framed by themselves,) were received with such great 
acceptance, as that the people began to shew no small expres- 
sions of joy in their new reformers." Dugdale's Short View of 
the Troubles in England, p. 66. 

t History of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 350. 



GRIEVANCES OF RELIGION. 189 



whatsoever, in matters of doctrine, discipline, or 
otherwise, to bind the clergy or laity of the land, 
without consent of parliament. 

" That the several constitutions and canons 
ecclesiastical, treated and agreed upon with the 
king's licence, by the archbishops, bishops, and 
clergy of the provinces of Canterbury and York 
in their several synods in the year 1640, do not 
bind the clergy or laity of the land, or either of 
them. 

" That the several constitutions or canons, 
made and agreed to in the convocations or synods 
above mentioned, do contain in them many mat- 
ters contrary to the king's prerogative, to the 
fundamental laws and statutes of this realm, to 
the rights of parliament, to the prosperity and 
liberty of the subject, and matters tending to 
sedition, and of dangerous consequence. 

" That the several grants of benevolences 
or contributions, granted to his most excellent 
Majesty by the clergy, in the several convoca- 
tions or synods above mentioned, are contrary to 
the laws, and ought not to bind the clergy." 

Upon the same day that the house of commons 
passed the above resolutions, of which it may be 
said, that they manifested more of anger and 
prejudice, than of law or reason, several warm 
speeches were made against the archbishop of 
Canterbury, as the chief author of them ; and a 



190 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



committee was appointed to enquire more parti- 
cularly, how far His Grace had been concerned in 
the proceedings of the late convocation, and in 
the treasonable design of subverting the religion 
and laws of his country, in order to draw up 
articles or charge against him. At the same time 
a charge was laid against him in the house of 
peers by the Scots commissioners, which being 
read by Lord Paget, was then reported to 
the commons at a conference between the two 
houses. This charge consisted of divers griev- 
ances, which occasioned much disturbance in 
Scotland. When this charge was reported to the 
commons, the resentment of the house against the 
archbishop immediately broke out into a flame, 
and many severe speeches were made against his 
late conduct. Sir Harbottle Grimstone, speaker 
of that parliament which restored Charles II. 
moved that the charge of the Scots commissioners 
might be supported by an impeachment of their 
own ; and that the question might now be put, 
whether the archbishop had been guilty of high 
treason? Which being voted, Mr. Hollis was 
immediately sent up to the bar of the house of 
Lords to impeach him in the name of all the 
commons of England. Afterwards the arch- 
bishop was delivered to the custody of the Usher 
of the Black Rod, till the house of commons 
should deliver in their articles of impeachment. 



IMPEACHMENT OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 191 



Mr. Pym, Mr. Hampden, and Mr. Maynard, by 
order of the commons, presented at the bar of the 
house of Lords, fourteen articles in support of 
their former charge of high treason against the 
archbishop, which being read, the archbishop 
made a short reply, and the lords voted him to 
the tower, where he continued three or four years 
before his trial came on. 

As to the convocation which attended this par- 
liament, it was, as usual, summoned and opened 
Nov. 4th, 1640. Dr. Bargrave, dean of Canterbury 
preached, and Dr, Steward, dean of Chichester, 
was chosen prolocutor, and was presented to the 
archbishop's acceptance in King Henry Vllth's 
chapel, when His Grace made a pathetic speech, 
lamenting the danger of the church, and exhort- 
ing every one present to perform the duty of their 
places with resolution, and not to be wanting to 
themselves, or to the cause of religion. Nothing 
of importance was transacted in this convocation, 
the times being so turbulent, and there being no 
commission from the king. The bishops discon- 
tinued their meeting, and the lower house gra- 
dually dwindled away. A Mr. Warminstre, a 
clergyman of the diocese of Worcester, convinced 
of the invalidity of the late canons, moved in this 
convocation, that ' ' they might cover the pit 
which they had opened," and so prevent a par- 
liamentary inquisition, by petitioning the King 



192 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



for leave to review them; — his motion was 
rejected, for they would not appear so mean as 
to condemn themselves before they were accused. 
Mr. Warminstre published a defence of his motion, 
wherein he bitterly speaks against the canons and 
proceedings of the late convocation : but in the 
sufferings of the clergy he was not spared from 
being sequestered.* 

Before archbishop Laud was confined in the 
tower, the parliament released most of the church 
and state prisoners. Nov. 16th, Dr. Williams, 
bishop of Lincoln, was discharged from his impri- 
sonment in the tower, and his fine remitted. The 
following day being a public fast, he officiated as 
dean in the abbey church of Westminster. 

When Dr. Williams, after his release, resumed 
his seat in the house of Lords, he conducted him- 
self with more temper than could be expected; 
whereupon his Majesty sent for him, aud endea- 
voured to gain him over, by promising to make 
him full satisfaction for his past sufferings: in 
order to which, his Majesty commanded all the 
judgments that were entered against him to be 
discharged, and within a twelvemonth translated 
him to the archbishoprick of York, with leave to 



* Hevlin's Life of Laud, p. 460. Warner's Eccles. Hist, 
b. xv, p 557, &c. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 354, 
Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 7 ; and part ii, 
p. 408. 



RELEASE OF PRYNNE. 



193 



hold his deanery of Westminster in commendam 
for three years. 

Mr. Prynne, Mr. Burton and Dr. Bast wick, 
being remanded from the several islands to which 
they had been confined, upon their petition to the 
house of commons, were met some miles out of 
London by a great number of people on horseback, 
with rosemary and bays in their hats, and escorted 
into the city in a kind of a triumph. Though 
these persons were severely punished, and perhaps 
in a great measure unjustly, yet the factious and 
hostile disposition of their deliverers manifests 
such a rancour as nothing could allay but the 
total destruction of church and state. In a few 
weeks after, the house of commons, in order to 
shew that they were in earnest about overthrowing 
the church, came to the following resolutions : 
" That the several judgments against them were 
illegal, unjust, and against the liberty of the sub- 
ject: that their several fines be remitted: that 
they be restored to their several possessions : and 
that for reparation of their losses, Mr. Burton 
ought to have £6000, and Mr. Prynne and Dr. 
Bastwick £5000. each, out of the estates of the 
archbishop of Canterbury, the high commis- 
sioners, and those lords, who have voted against 
them in the star-chamber; but the confusion of 
the times prevented the payment of the money. 

o 



194 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



About the same time. Dr. Alexander Leighton, 
Dr. Osbaldeston, and others were set at liberty. 

As the house of commons declared the impri- 
sonment of these persons illegal, consequently 
they made enquiry after their persecutors. In 
the month of January, 1640-1, Dr. Cosins, pre- 
bendary of Durham, afterwards bishop of Dur- 
ham, was one of the first persons, who suffered 
in the cause of the church of England in those 
troublesome times : he was taken into custody 
by order of the house, and was voted unfit to hold 
any ecclesiastical promotion, on account of some 
pretended innovations which he had introduced 
into the cathedral of Durham. He, foreseeing the 
impending storm, withdrew into France, where 
he remained till the restoration of Charles II, by 
whom he was made bishop of Durham. 

Dr. Matthew Wren, late bishop of Norwich, 
and now of Ely, having used much severity 
against the puritan clergy in his diocese, the inha- 
bitants of Ipswich drew up a petition against him, 
and presented it to the house, Dec. 22, 1640.* 
Upon which a charge was exhibited against him, 
consisting of twenty-five articles. It stated, that 



* Nalson's Collections, p. 692. Neal's Hist, of the Puritaas, 
vol. ii, p. 370. See Brook's Lives of the Puritans, vol. ii, 
p. 410. 



DR. WREN, BISHOP OF ELY. 195 

during the time of his being the bishop of Norwich, 
which was about two years, fifty ministers had 
been excommunicated, suspended, and deprived, 
for not reading the second service at the commu- 
nion table, for not reading the book of sports, for 
using conceived prayers before the afternoon 
sermon, &c : and that by his rigorous severities, 
many of his Majesty's subjects, to the namber of 
three thousand, had removed themselves and 
families into Holland, and set up their manufacto- 
ries there, to the great injury of the trade of this 
kingdom. The bill was carried to the house of 
lords, and the bishop gave bond for his appear- 
ance. Some time after, the commons voted him 
unfit to hold any ecclesiastical preferment. Both 
lords and commons petitioned the king to remove 
him from his person and service ; after which he 
was imprisoned with the other protesting bishops. 
When released, he retired to his house at Down- 
ham in the isle of Ely, where he was apprehended 
by a party of soldiers, and conveyed to the Tower, 
where he continued till the end of the year 1659, 
without being brought to his trial, or any charge 
or accusation formed against him. He was the 
first bishop that was deprived by the parliament : 
however, he survived all his troubles and suffer- 
ings, and was restored by Charles II. to his 

bishoprick. He bore his troubles with much 

o 2 



196 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



patience and magnanimity, and died in the eighty- 
first year of his age.* 

Complaints were made against several other 
bishops and clergymen, as Dr. Pierce, bishop of 
Bath and Wells ; Dr. Montague, bishop of Nor- 
wich; Dr. Owen, bishop of Llandaff; and Dr. 
Manwaring, bishop of St. David's : but the house 
was now too much occupied with other affairs, 
to have time to prosecute them, and vote them 
unfit for ecclesiastical promotions. 

The clamour against the clergy was now become 
so violent, that they could hardly officiate in the 
established form, or walk the streets without 
being insulted. The Liturgy was called a lifeless 
form of worship, and a quenching of the Holy 
Spirit. Immense numbers of petitions were sent 
up to " the committee of religion" from all parts 
of the country against the clergy, complaining of 
superstitious impositions, the immoral conduct of 
the clergy, and neglect of their cures. Lord 
Clarendon observes, that many of these petitions 
were got up in very unfair ways, in those times of 
iniquity and confusion : and Dr. Warner says, 
that, " encouraged by the appearances of a favour- 
able disposition in the commons to redress the 
grievances of religion, the petulant humour of 



* Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 370. Walker's 
Sufferings of the Clergy, part ii, p. 21. 



RIOTS IN CHURCHES. 



197 



every enthusiast was indulged in subscribing 
petitions against the church; and the greatest 
unfairness was made use of to swell the list." # 

The spirit of the populace was now such, that 
it was difficult to prevent their outrunning autho- 
rity, and tearing down in a tumultuous manner 
what they were told had been set up illegally. 
At St. Saviour's, Southwark, the mob pulled 
down the rails about the communion table. At 
Halsted, in Essex, they tore the surplice, and 
abused the liturgy: and when the commons 
were assembled in St. Margaret's, Westminster, 
as the clergyman was commencing the commu- 
nion service at the communion table, some 
of the rabble at the lower end of the church 
began to sing a psalm, in which the congregation 
joined, so that the minister was obliged to desist. 
But in order to prevent any such disorders in 
future, the lords and commons passed a severe 
sentence on the rioters, and published the follow- 
ing order, dated Jan. 16, lo*40~l, appointing it to 
be read in all the churches of London, Westmin- 
ster, and Southwark — " That divine service shall 
be performed as it is appointed by the acts of 
parliament of this realm; and that all such as 



* Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i, p. 203. Warner's Eccles. 
Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 537. See also Walker's Sufferings 
of the Clergy, part i, p. 8. 



198 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



disturb that wholesome order shall be severely 
punished by law." # And it was also added, 
" That the parsons, vicars, and curates of the 
several parishes shall forbear to introduce any 
rites or ceremonies that may give offence, other- 
wise than those which are established by the laws 
of the land." 

About this time the house of commons arbitra- 
rily settled puritanical preachers and lecturers in 
most of the considerable churches, so that the 
pulpits now sounded with abundance of faction 
and fanaticism. Commissioners were also ordered 
to be sent into every county, to " deface, demo- 
lish, and remove out of churches and chapels, all 
images, altars, or tables turned altanvise, cruci- 
fixes, pictures, and other monuments and relics of 
idolatry." In consequence of this commission, 
the Cross in Cheapside, Charing Cross, was 
taken down; and also the famous St. Paul's 
Cross was demolished.* 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, pp. 24, 26. 
Nalson's Collections, vol. ii, p. 271. Neal's Hist, of the 
Puritans, vol. ii, p. 372. 

f St. Paul's Cross " was a pulpit of wood, covered with lead in 
the form of a cross, and mounted on several flights of stone 
steps, and placed about the middle of St. Paul's churchyard, in 
which more learned men appeared, and out of which more 
sound and good divinity had been delivered, than perhaps any 
one pulpit since the first preaching of the Gospel could ever 
glory in ; and particularly under that ( now idolatrous ) banner 



ARBITRARY POWER OF THE COMMONS. 199 

It is easy to perceive that the commons, who 
were so forward to complain on all occasions of 
the arbitrary power of the king, exceeded, in this 
instance, their own authority, and placed arbitrary 
power in the hands of those commissioners. In 
order to maintain this arbitrary power, the house 
of commons judged it requisite to encourage their 
friends particularly to countenance the puritans, 
to whose assistance and influence they were 
already so much obliged, and thus to contrive to 
overawe their enemies. To every one who im- 
partially views the political factions of those 
times, it is evident that many of the puritans, 
though pious, good, and conscientious men, were 
made tools to promote the designs of this parlia- 
ment. Every meeting of the commons was now 
productive of some vehement harangue against 
the usurpation of the bishops, the high commis- 
sion, the late convocation, and the new canons. 
Such invectives were received without any con- 
troul. And no distinction at first appeared 
between those who desired only to reform the 
abuses which had crept into the church, and 
those who wished totally to annihilate episcopal 
jurisdiction.* 



of the cross, more learning against popery and all real idolatry 
had been shewn, than those new reformers were ever masters 
of."— Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 24. 

* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp. 536, 537. 



200 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



It was manifest that the destruction of the 
church was intended, since its ministers and 
liturgy were so virulently attacked. The debates 
in parliament concerning the liturgy and episco- 
pacy, now engaged the attention of the whole 
nation. A great number of seditious pamphlets 
issued from the press against the churcb,written in 
the most scurrilous and indecent language. Bishop 
Hall, in his " Defence of the Humble Remon- 
strance against the frivolous and false Exceptions 
of Smectymnuus^ says, "Fain would you excuse 
that which the world cries shame on : the multi- 
tude of the late seditious pamphlets; whereat 
you might well blush in silence, when an honour- 
able person, in open parliament, could reckon up 
no less than seven score that had passed the press 
since the beginning of this session." * Bishop Hall, 
lamenting the iniquitous attacks on the church, 
made, on this occasion, the following earnest 
appeal to the house of lords in behalf of the 
church. 

" My Lords : 

I have long held my peace, and meant to have 
done so still: but now, like to Craesus's mute son, 
I must break silence. I humbly beseech your 
Lordships to give me leave, to take this too just 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, p. 644. 



SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 201 

occasion to move your Lordships to take into 
your deep and serious consideration the woeful 
and lamentable condition of the poor Church of 
England, your dear Mother. 

My Lords, this was not wont to be her stile. 
We have, heretofore, talked of the famous and 
flourishing Church of England: but now, your 
Lordships must give me leave to say, that the 
poor Church of England humbly prostrates her- 
self, next after his Sacred Majesty, at your Lord- 
ships' feet ; and humbly craves your compassion 
and present aid. 

My Lords, it is a foul and dangerous insolence, 
this, which is now complained of to you ; but it 
is but one of a hundred of those, which have been 
of late done to this Church and Government. 

The Church of England, as your Lordships 
cannot choose but know, hath been and is miser- 
ably infested on both sides: with Papists, on 
the one side; and Schismatics, on the other. 
The Psalmist hath, of old, distinguished the 
enemies of it, into wild boars out of the wood, 
and little foxes out of the burrows: the one 
whereof goes about to root up the very founda- 
tion of religion ; the other to crop the branches, 
and blossoms, and clusters thereof: both of them 
conspire the utter ruin and devastation of it. 

As for the former of them, I do perceive a 
great deal of good zeal, for the remedy and sup- 



202 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

pression of them : and I do heartily congratulate 
it; and bless God for it; and beseech him to 
prosper it, in those hands, that shall undertake 
and prosecute it. 

But, for the other, give me leave to say, I do 
not find many, that are sensible of the danger of 
it ; which yet, in my apprehension, is very great 
and apparent. Alas! my Lords, I beseech you 
to consider what it is : That there should be 
in London and the Suburbs and Liberties, no 
fewer than fourscore congregations of several 
sectaries, as I have been too credibly informed ; 
instructed by guides fit for them, Coblers, Tailors, 
Feltmakers, and such like trash : which are all 
taught to spit in the face of their Mother, the 
Church of England ; and to defy and revile her 
government. From hence have issued those 
dangerous assaults of our Church-Governors: 
from hence, that inundation of base and scurrilous 
libels and pamphlets, wherewith we have been of 
late overborne; in which Papists and Prelates, 
like oxen in a yoke, are still matched together. 
O my Lords, I beseech you, that you will be 
sensible of this great indignity. Do but look 
upon these reverend persons. Do not your 
Lordships see here, sitting upon these benches, 
those, that have spent their time, their strength, 
their bodies and lives, in preaching down, in 
writing down Popery ? and which would be ready 



SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 203 

if occasion where offered, to sacrifice all their 
old blood that remains to the maintenance of that 
truth of God, which they have taught and writ- 
ten? And shall we be thus despitefully ranged 
with them, whom we do thus professedly oppose? 
But, alas ! this is but one of those many scan- 
dalous aspersions and intolerable affronts, that 
are daily cast upon us. Now whither should 
we, in this case, have recourse for a needful and 
seasonable redress ? The arm of the Church is, 
alas! now short and sinewless: it is the inter- 
posing of your authority that must rescue us. 
You are the eldest sons of your dear Mother, the 
Church ; and, therefore, most fit and most able 
to vindicate her wrongs. You are Amici Sponsce; 
give me leave, therefore, in the bowels of Christ 
humbly to beseech your Lordships, to be tenderly 
sensible of these woeful and dangerous conditions 
of the times. And, if the Government of the 
Church of England be unlawful and unfit, aban- 
don and disclaim it; but if otherwise, uphold and 
maintain it. Otherwise, if these lawless outrages 
be yet suffered to gather head, who knows where 
they will end ? My Lords, if these men may, with 
impunity and freedom, thus bear down Ecclesi- 
astical Authority, it is to be feared they will not 
rest there; but will be ready to affront Civil 
Power too. Your Lordships know, that the Jack 
Straws, and Cades, and Wat Tylers of former 



204 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



times, did not more cry down learning than 
nobility : and those of your Lordships, that have 
read the history of the Anabaptistical tumults at 
Munster, will need no other item: let it be 
enough to say, that many of these Sectaries are 
of the same profession. Shortly, therefore, let 
me humbly move your Lordships to take these 
dangers and miseries of this poor Church deeply 
to heart : and, upon this occasion, to give order 
for the speedy redressing of these horrible inso- 
lencies; and for the stopping of that deluge of 
libellous invectives, wherewith we are thus impet- 
uously overflown. Which, in all due submission, 
I humbly present to your Lordships' wise and 
religious consideration." # 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. x, pp.65, 66. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Upon the gathering of the present storm, 
Bishop Hall came forward a second time as a 
strenuous champion in defence of the church of 
England. He published " An Humble Remon- 
strance to the High Court of Parliament," in 
which treatise he vindicated the antiquity of litur- 
gies and episcopacy with admirable skill, meek- 
ness, and simplicity ; yet with such strength of 
argument, that five presbyterian divines " clubbed 
their wits together to frame an answer." These 
dissenting ministers were Stephen Marshall, 
Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew New- 
comen, and William Spurstow. Their perform- 
ance bore the strange title of " Smectymnuus, or 
An Answer to an Humble Remonstrance, &c." 
This fictitious word is made up of the initial 
letters of the names of the above authors. Bishop 
Hall, in his reply entitled " A Defence of that 
Remonstrance," alluding to his antagonists, mer- 
rily says," My single Remonstrance is encountered 
with a plural adversary, that talks in the style of 



206 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



" We" and " Us." Their names, persons, qualities, 
numbers, I care not to know: but could they 
say, " my name is Legion, for we are many or, 
were they as many legions as men; my cause, 
yea God's, would bid me to meet them undis- 
mayed, and to say with holy David, " Though a 
host should encamp against me, my heart shall 
not fear." Ps. xxvii, 3. Bishop Hall proceeds 
with much composure to point out the bulk of his 
adversaries' performance, their trifling cavils, and 
their inveterate malice against episcopacy: and, 
with his usual ability and learning, demonstrates 
the antiquity of forms of prayers, and the Aposto- 
lical institution of episcopacy. In a word, this 
reply is a complete refutation of the arguments of 
the bishop's adversaries. 

It is said of the treatise of Smectymnuus that it 
is " certainly written with great fierceness of spirit 
and much asperity in language, containing eighteen 
sections, in the last of which the differences 
between the prelatists and puritans are aggravated 
with great bitterness."* Bishop Hall, at the end 
of his " Defence of the Humble Remonstrance," 
speaks of the last section of Smectymnuus thus: 
" The rest that remains, is but mere declamation, 
not worthy of any answer, but contempt and 
silence," 



* Brook's Lives of the Puritans, vol. iii, p. 246. 



ANSWER TO SMECTYMNUUS. 207 

In this controversy, no one can say that Bishop 
Hall has used " asperity of language," or mani- 
fested bitterness of spirit: on the contrary, he 
has written with the simplicity of a primitive 
christian bishop ; with confidence of the goodness 
of the cause ; with brotherly respect to his 
opponents: his language is energetic, yet tem- 
perate, courteous, and chaste. 

The bishop terminates this controversy by a 
tract called " A Short Answer to the Tedious 
Vindication of Smectymnuus" in which he vindi- 
cates, with great strength of argument, what he 
had already advanced in defence of liturgies and 
episcopacy: refutes his opponents' cavils and 
subterfuges, and challenges them to produce any 
settled national church in the whole christian 
world that has been otherwise governed than by 
bishops, in a meet and moderate parity, ever since 
the time of Christ and his apostles, until this pre- 
sent age." * 

It is proper here to observe, that, though 
Bishop Hall proves that there always had been a 
form of prayer used in the public worship of God, 
both in the Jewish and christian church ; yet he 
does not disapprove of the use of extemporary 
prayer on certain occasions, but confesses that he 
made use of both ways. " Far be it from me," 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, pp. 591, 768. 



208 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



says he, " to dishearten any good christian from 
the use of conceived prayer, in his private devo- 
tions, and upon occasion also in public. I would 
hate to be guilty of pouring so much water upon 
the Spirit ; to which I shall gladly add oil rather. 
No; let the full soul freely pour out itself in 
gracious expressions of its holy thoughts, into the 
bosom of the Almighty. Let both the sudden 
flashes of our quick ejaculations, and the constant 
flames of our more fixed conceptions, mount up 
from the altar of a zealous heart unto the throne 
of grace : and if there be some stops or solecisms 
in the fervent utterance of our private wants, these 
are so far from being offensive, that they are the 
most pleasing music to the ears of that God unto 
whom our prayers come. Let them be broken off* 
with sobs, and sighs, and incongruities of our 
delivery, our good God is no otherwise affected 
to this imperfect elocution, than an indulgent 
parent is to the clipped and broken language of 
his dear child, which is more delightful to him 
than any other's smooth oratory. This is not to 
be opposed in another, by any man, that hath 
found the true operation of this grace in himself."* 
" What have I professed," says he again, con- 
cerning conceived prayer, 6 'but that which I ever 
allowed, ever practised, both in private and 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, p. 629, &c. 



ON EXTEMPORE PRAYER. 



209 



public ? God is a free Spirit, and so should ours 
be, in pouring out our voluntary devotions upon all 
occasions. Nothing hinders, but that this liberty 
and a public liturgy should be good friends, 
and may go hand in hand together. And whoso- 
ever would forcibly sever them, let them bear 
their own blame." And again, in his "Answer 
to Smectymnuus' Vindication, " he says, " you tell 
me of thousands, who desire to worship God with 
devout hearts, that cannot be easily persuaded 
that these set forms, though never so free from 
just exceptions, will prove so great a help to their 
devotion : I tell you of many more thousands than 
they, and no less devoutly affected, that bless 
God to have found this happy and comfortable 
effect in the fore-set prayers of the church. 
Neither doth this plead at all against the use of 
present conception, whether in praying or preach- 
ing ; or derogate any thing from that reverent and 
pious esteem of conceived prayer, which I have 
formerly professed. Surely I do from my soul 
honour both : I gladly make use of both ; and 
praise God for them, as the gracious exercises of 
christian piety, and the effectual furtherances of 
salvation. There is place enough for them both : 
they need not justle each other." # 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, pp. 651, 760. 
While this controversy was debating at home, letters were 
P 



210 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Perhaps the controversy between Bishop Hall 
and these dissenting divines might have been 
compromised, if there had not been a determined 
resolution in several persons then in power to 
demolish the established church: in which resolu- 
tion they were greatly assisted by many of those 
called puritans, who were of turbulent spirits, 
and inveterate against church and state. And at 
the same time it must be allowed, that if the rest 
of the bishops and clergy had been of the same 
spirit and temper as Bishop Hall, probably 
things would not have been carried to such 
extremes. But divine providence so ordered it, 



sent from both sides to obtain the judgment of foreign divines ; 
but most of them gave no reply. Dr. Plume, in the life of 
Bishop Hacket, writes, that Blondel, Vossius, Horn beck, and 
Salmasius, were sent to by his Majesty's friends in vain. 
Blondel published a treatise on the dissenters' side; but 
Deodote of Geneva, Amy raid as of France, wished an accom- 
modation, and were for episcopal government. The papists 
triumphed, and their expectations were raised on account of 
these differences, as appears by a letter of T. White, a papist, 
to the Lord Viscount Gage, of Dublin, Feb. 12, 1639: "We 
are in a fair way to assuage heresy and her episcopacy ; for 
Exeter's book has done more for the catholics than they could 
have done for themselves, he having written that episcopacy in 
office and jurisdiction is absolutely Jure divino, (which was the 
old quarrel between our bishops and King Henry VIII, during 
his heresy ;) which book does not a little trouble our adver- 
saries, who declare this tenet of Exeter's to be contrary to the 
laws of this land. All is like to prosper here, so I hope with 
you there." These were the wishes, and the sentiment of the 
papists then respecting Bishop Hall's writings on episcopacy. 
—See " Foxes and Firebrands," part ii, p. 81 ; and Neat's 
Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 389. 



PETITIONS. 



211 



that the arbitrary power then in church and state 
should be punished, and that the unrestrained 
outrages of civil and religious faction should be at 
the same time exemplified, that all future ages 
might take warning againist fostering a seditious, 
factious, and party spirit. 

As this parliament increased in power, the 
puritan divines took advantage of it, and stiffened 
in their demands, till methods of accommodation 
were utterly impracticable.* And, as the utter 
subversion of the church was contemplated, the 
industry of the several parties to get signatures to 
petitions, is almost incredible : and, as it was then 
the fashion to judge of the sense of the nation this 
way, messengers were sent all over England to 
promote petitions and procure signatures. Lord 
Clarendon, Dr. Nalson, and others, complain of 
great disingenuity on the side of those who were 
ill-affected to the church. The noble historian 
says, " That the paper which contained the 
minister's petition was filled with a very few 
hands, but that many other sheets were annexed 
for the reception of numbers, that gave credit to 
the undertaking : but that when their names were 
subscribed, the petition itself was cut off, and a 
new one of a very different nature annexed to the 



* Neat's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 388. 
P 2 

♦ 



212 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



long list of names : and when some of the minis- 
ters complained to the Rev. Mr. Marshall, with 
whom the petition was lodged, that they never 
saw the petition to which their hands were 
annexed, but had signed another against the oath 
enjoined in the new canons. When they found 
their names set to a petition for an alteration in the 
government of the church, they remonstrated for 
this disingenuity. Mr. Marshall, it is said, replied, 
that it was thought fit by those who understood 
business better than they, that the latter petition 
should rather be preferred than the former."* 

It must be allowed that very unfair means were 
employed to get signatures to petitions at this 
time: and many subscribed their names who 
were not at all capable of judging the merits of 
the cause. There were two kinds of petitions 
against the church. Some petitioned the destruc- 
tion of the whole fabric : a petition, therefore, 
was got up, and subscribed by above fifteen 
thousand inhabitants of London ; this complained 
of the government of the church by archbishops, 
bishops, deans, &c. and prayed that the said 
government, with all its dependencies, Root and 
Branch, might be abolished. This extraordinary 



* Clarendon, vol. i, p. 204. Walker's Sufferings of the 
Clergy, part i, p. 8. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, 
p. 390. 



" ROOT AND BRANCH" PETITION. 213 



bill was therefore cantingly termed the Root and 
Branch petition. There were also others who 
only aimed at the reformation! of some things in 
the government of the church : a petition, there- 
fore, called the ministers' petition, was drawn np, 
and signed by seven hundred beneficed clergy- 
men ; this was followed by others, signed by a 
vast number of hands, from Kent, Gloucester- 
shire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, and other 
counties. Though the enemies of episcopacy 
were extremely busy, yet there were great efforts 
made in favor of the constitution; for, in 1641 
and the following year, there were no less than 
nineteen petitions presented to the king, and the 
house of lords, from the two universities, from 
Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, Somersetshire, Rut- 
landshire, Staffordshire, Kent, North Wales, Lan- 
cashire, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Corn- 
wall, Oxfordshire, &c. There was also a petition 
from the diocese of Exeter, signed by about eight 
thousand names ; which, of course, was promoted 
by Bishop Hall and his clergy. The petitions in 
favor of the church were subscribed by above 
one hundred thousand hands ! six thousand were 
nobility, gentry, and dignified clergy.* 

These petitions in favor of the church, signed 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 10. 



214 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



by so vast a number, carried no weight with them ; 
they were not at all countenanced, but were, in 
fact, rejected. The house was displeased with 
those who made them, discouraged any more 
attempts of the kind, and was presumptuous 
enough to complain to, and remonstrate with the 
king for his receiving them. * 

It would be too tedious to give an account of 
all the petitions against episcopacy : let it suffice, 
however, to add, that even the apprentices of 
London made a petition to the king, desiring 
among other things, " that prelacy might be rooted 
tip." The very porters also petitioned against 
episcopacy as a burthen too heavy for their 
shoulders, f 

The root and branch petition, mentioned above, 
was presented to the committee of religion, Dec. 
11, 1640, by Alderman Pennington, in the name 
of his Majesty's subjects in and about the city 
of London, and adjacent counties. It inclosed a 
schedule of eight and twenty grievances : the 
chief of which were, the suspension and depriva- 
tion of ministers by the bishops, for not conforming 
to the rites and ceremonies of the church — the 
discouragement of preaching — the bishops' claim 
of divine right — the Oath ex officio — and the 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part ii, p. 10. 
t Fuller's Church Hist. cent. 17, p. 185. 



SPEECH OF LORD DIGBY. 215 

exorbitant power of the high commission court. 
In order to obtain redress of these grievances, the 
petitioners were so very modest as only to desire 
that episcopacy with all its dependances, root and 
branch, might be abolished. 

At this time, however, the house was not of 
that malignant spirit against the church, which it 
afterwards manifested, for the utmost which 
could be obtained, after a long debate upon the 
petition, was, that it should not be rejected — that 
it should remain in the hands of the clerk of the 
house, and that no copy of it should be given"* 

The following extracts from the speeches of 
Lords Digby and Falkland on this occasion, shew 
us the malignity and presumption of this petition. 
Lord Digby says, " I know not whether it be 
more preposterous to infer the extirpation of 
bishops from such weak arguments, or to attri- 
bute, as they do, to church government all the 
civil grievances; not a patent, not a monopoly, 
not the price of a commodity raised, but these 
men make the bishops the cause of it. For the 
bold part of this petition, Sir, what can be of 
greater presumption than for the petitioners not 
only to prescribe to the parliament what and how 
it shall do, but for a multitude to teach a parlia- 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 8. Warner's 
Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 537. 



216 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



ment what is, and what is not, the government 
according to God's word. Besides, what is the 
petition against? Is it not against the government 
of the church of England established by acts of 
parliament, against the liturgy, and against the 
several forms of divine service, ratified by the 
same authority? Episcopacy is a function, 
deduced through all ages of Christ's church from 
the apostles' times, and continued the most vene- 
rable and sacred order ecclesiastical ; a function 
dignified by the learning and piety of many fathers 
of the church, glorified by so many martyrdoms 
in the primitive times, and some since our own 
blessed reformation ; a government admired, I 
speak it knowingly, by the learnedest of the 
reformed churches abroad ; and lastly, a govern- 
ment under which, till these late years, this 
church hath so flourished and fructified." Lord 
Falkland, who, according to Clarendon's opinion, 
was the most extraordinary man of his age, after 
speaking with severity against some of the bishops, 
adds, " And now, even in this great defect of the 
order, there have been some that have been 
neither proud nor ambitious ; some that have 
been learned opposers of popery, and zealous 
suppressors of Arminianism ; between whom and 
their inferior clergy, there have been no distinc- 
tions in frequent preaching; whose lives are 
untouched, not only by guilt, but by malice, 



lord Falkland's speech. 



217 



scarce to be equalled by those of any condition, 
or excelled by those in any calendar."* This 
part of Lord Falkland's speech is truly descrip- 
tive of Bishop Hall's character, and in every point 
agrees with what the bishop says of himself in his 
" Letter sent from the Tower to a private friend:" 
it is highly probable that Lord Falkland had 
Bishop Hall particularly in view. Both Lord 
Digby and Lord Falkland were at this time very 
zealous for redress of grievances in the church ; 
Bishop Hall also, and some others of the bishops, 
were disposed to remove every offensive innova- 
tion out of the church, and to comply with every 
requisite reform ; but unhappily on the one hand 
nothing would satisfy but the demolition of the 
church root and branch, and on the other, many 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, p. 538. During 
this debate the following repartees passed between Mr. Grim- 
stone and Mr. Seldon : — Mr. G. argoed " that bishops are 
jure divino is a question ; that archbishops are not jure divino 
is out of question ; novv that bishops which are questioned 
whether jure divino, or archbishops which out of question are 
not jure divino, should suspend ministers which axe jure divino, 
I leave to you to be' considered." Mr. Seldon replied, " that 
the convocation is jure divino is a question; that parliaments 
are not jure divino is out of the question ; that religion is jure 
divino is no question ; now that the convocation which is 
questionable whether jure divino, and parliaments which out of 
the question are not jure divino, should meddle with religion 
which questionless is jure divino, I leave to your consideration." 
Seldon's argument is considered by Bishop Warburton, as a 
thorough confutation of Grimstone's. Vide Neal, vol. ii, p. 405. 



218 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



of the bishops were not at all disposed to comply 
with any reform. 

In the petition in favour of the church, signed 
by a great number of the nobility, gentry, and 
dignified clergy, in opposition to the root and 
branch petition, it was stated, "That episcopacy 
is as ancient as Christianity itself in this kingdom 
— that bishops were the chief instruments in the 
reformation of the church against popery, and 
afterwards the most eminent martyrs for the pro- 
testant religion, and since, the best and ablest 
champions for the defence of it. That since the 
reformation the times have been very peaceable, 
happy, and glorious, notwithstanding the episco- 
pal government in the church, and therefore that 
this government can be no cause of our no happi- 
ness. That not only many learned, but divers 
other godly persons, would be much scandalized 
and troubled in conscience, if the government of 
episcopacy, conceived by them to be an apostolical 
institution, were altered; and since there is so 
much care taken, that no man should be offended 
in the least ceremony, we hope there will be 
some, that such men's consciences may not be 
pressed upon in a matter of an higher nature 
and consequence, especially considering that this 
government by episcopacy is not only lawful and 
convenient for edification, but likewise suitable 
to, and agreeable with the civil policy and govern- 



PETITIONS FOR EPISCOPACY. 219 

ment of this state. That this government is 
lawful, it appears by the immediate, universal, 
and constant practice of all the christian world, 
grounded upon scripture, from the apostles' time, 
to this last age, for above fifteen hundred years 
together, it being utterly incredible, if not impos- 
sible, that the whole church, for so long a time, 
should not discover, by God's word, this govern- 
ment to be unlawful, if it had been so; to which 
may be added, that the most learned protestants, 
even in those very churches which now are not 
governed by bishops, do not only hold the 
government by episcopacy to be lawful, but wish 
that they themselves might enjoy it. That the 
government by episcopacy is not only lawful but 
convenient for edification, and as nmch or more 
conducing to piety and devotion than any other, 
because no modest man denies that the primitive 
times were most famous for piety, constancy and 
perseverance in the faith, notwithstanding more 
frequent, and more cruel persecutions than ever 
have been since, and yet it is confessed that the 
church in those times was governed by bishops. 
That the government of the church by episcopacy 
is most suitable to the form and frame of the civil 
government here in this kingdom, it appears by 
the happy and flourishing union of them both for 
so long a time together; whereas no man can give 
us an assurance how any church government 



220 



LIFE OF BISftOP HALL. 



besides this (whereof we have had so long expe- 
rience) will suit and agree with the civil policy of 
the state." 

The humble request of the petitioners was, 
" that they may still enjoy that government which 
most probably holds its institution from the apos- 
tles, and most certainly its plantation with our 
christian faith itself in this kingdom, where it hath 
ever since flourished and continued for many ages 
without any interruption or alteration; whereby 
it plainly appears, that as it is the most excellent 
government in itself, so it is the most suitable, 
most agreeable, and every way most proportion- 
able to the civil constitution and temper of this 
state." 

The petition called the ministers' petition was 
presented to the house Jan. 23, 1640-1, by ten 
or twelve clergymen : it was pretended to be 
signed by about seven hundred ministers of 
London and of the adjacent counties. It prayed 
for a reformation of certain grievances in the 
establishment, and was referred to the committee 
of religion. The three following articles were 
reported as proper to the consideration of the 
house:—" 1. The secular employments of the 
clergy. 2. The sole power of the bishops in 
ecclesiastical affairs, and particularly in ordina- 
tions and church censures. 3. The large reve- 
nues of deans and chapters, with the incon- 



ATTACKS ON THE CHURCH. 221 

veniences that attend the application of them."* 
The house having debated upon the first article, 
agreed " That the legislative and judicial power 
of bishops in the house of peers, is a great 
hinderance to the discharge of their spiritual 
function, prejudicial to the commonwealth, and 
fit to be taken away : that for bishops or any other 
clergyman to be in the commission of the peace, 
or to have any judicial power in the star-chamber, 
or in any civil court, is a great hinderance to the 
discharge of their spiritual function, and preju- 
dicial to the commonwealth, and fit to be taken 
away ; and that a bill be brought in to that 
purpose. 

According to these resolutions, a bill was 
brought into the house of commons, to exclude 
all ecclesiastics from civil employments, and the 
bishops in particular from a right of sitting in 
the house of lords. The noble historian informs 
us, that this bill " was contrived with great 
deliberation and preparation, to dispose men to 
consent to it," and that the reception of it was 
" the first design that was entertained against 
the church." The leaders among the puritan- 
nical party took great pains to dispose the minds 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, p. 538. Walker's 
Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 15. Neal's Hist, of the 
Puritans, vol. ii, p. 395. 



222 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



of members well affected to the church, to con- 
cur with them in this bill. Indeed many persons 
of integrity and judgment then believed that the 
passing this bill was the only expedient to pre- 
serve the church. Mr. Hampden assured Lord 
Falkland, " that if this bill might pass, there 
would be nothing more attempted to the preju- 
dice of the church, which he thought, as the 
world then went, would be no ill composition." 
The same insidious artifice was probably em- 
ployed with other members ; to which it was 
added, " how advantageous it would be for the 
king to have at his pleasure so great a number 
of voices among the Lords, and consequently 
how improbable it would be to succeed in the 
reformation of abuses, while the bishops had 
votes in the house of peers." As the rigid 
puritans dared not as yet openly to discover 
their destructive vows against the church, and 
seemed to have no other view in the expulsion 
of the bishops than to facilitate the redress of 
grievances, so there were churchmen who were 
of opinion it would do no harm, if ecclesiastical 
persons had fewer avocations from their profes- 
sion, and that the passing of this bill would be 
an expedient to prevent any further attempts 
against the church. 

The king, being informed of these proceedings, 
declared in a speech his readiness to concur 



BILL AGAINST THE BISHOPS. 223 

with the parliament in a redress of grievances 
in church and state ; but, though he was for a 
reform, he would not consent to a change of 
government. He was not unwilling that the 
exorbitant power and encroachments of the 
bishops, if there had been any such, should be 
redressed like all other abuses ; but he should 
not consent that their voices in parliament should 
be taken away, which they had enjoyed ever 
since the conquest. However, the royal speech 
being looked upon as unparliamentary, did the 
cause no service ; it was premature, as the house 
as yet was not disposed to bring in a bill for the 
subversion of the church. 

It seemed also, that, in case this bill should be 
rejected, the puritanical party would be exceed- 
ingly displeased, who, as being supported by the 
Scots, were now very powerful : it was indeed by 
their means in a great measure that the parlia- 
ment was enabled to proceed in the work of 
redressing grievances. Wherefore the bill for 
suppressing the temporal jurisdiction of the 
bishops and clergy, and excluding the former 
from the house of lords, passed the commons by 
a great majority : but when it was sent up to the 
house of lords, May 1, 1641, it met with vigorous 
opposition.* Many of the greatest men in that 



* Fuller says, (Ch. Hist. b. ix, p. 185.) that Lord Kimbolton 



224 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



house grew weary of the malignant presumption of 
the commons, and observed that they had " worse 
designs than they owned :" so those peers, who 
had hitherto concurred with them, deserted them 
on this occasion, and severely inveighed against 
their projects. The bill, therefore, after a second 
reading, was thrown out, without so much as 
being committed, even by a majority of temporal 
lords, without the votes of the bishops being 
reckoned. If the lords temporal were so far 
disposed as to comply to exclude the bishops 
and clergy from all secular offices and employ- 
ments in the state, they would not at all comply 
to deprive them of their votes in parliament. 

The principal speakers in the house of lords 
in behalf of the bishops, were Lord Viscount 
Newark, afterwards the Earl of Kingston, the 
Marquis of Hereford, the Earls of Southampton, 
Bath and Bristol, Dr. Williams bishop of Lincoln, 
afterwards archbishop of York, and Bishop Hall, 
who on this occasion, made the following excel- 
lent speech concerning the power of bishops in 
secular things : 



would have persuaded the bishops to resign their votes, adding, 
that then the temporal lords would be obliged in honor to 
preserve their jurisdiction and revenues. But they would 
hearken to no such thing, resolving to keep possession of their 
seats till a superior force should dispossess them. 



SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS, 225 

" My Lords : 

This is the strangest bill, that ever I heard, since 
I was admitted to sit under this roof: for it 
strikes at the very fabric and composition of this 
house ; at the style of all laws : and, therefore, 
were it not that it comes from such a recommen- 
dation, it would not, I suppose, undergo any long 
consideration; but, coming to us from such 
hands, it cannot but be worthy of your best 
thoughts. 

And, truly, for the main scope of the bill, I 
shall yield it most willingly, that ecclesiastical 
and sacred persons should not ordinarily be taken 
up with secular affairs. The minister is called 
Vir Dei, " a man of God :" he may not be Vir 
Seculi. He may lend himself to them, upon 
occasion: he may not give himself over purposely 
to them. Shortly, he may not so attend worldly 
things, as that he do neglect divine things. This 
we gladly yield. Matters of justice, therefore, are 
not proper, as in an ordinary trade, for our func- 
tion ; and, by my consent, shall be, as in a gen- 
erality, waved and deserted: which, for my part, 
I never have meddled with, but in a charitable 
way ; with no profit, but some charge to myself, 
whereof I shall be glad to be eased. Tractent 
fabrilia fabri ; as the old word is. 

But, if any man shall hence think to infer, that 
some spiritual person may not occasionally be in a 

Q 



226 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



special service of his king or country ; and, when 
he is so required by his prince, give his advice in 
the urgent affairs of the kingdom, which I sup- 
pose is the main point driven at; it is such an 
inconsequence, as I dare boldly say cannot be 
made good, either by divinity or reason ; by the 
laws either of God or man: whereas the contrary 
may be proved and enforced by both. 

As for the grounds of this bill, that the minis- 
ters duty is so great, that it is able to take up the 
whole man, and the Apostle saith, n$ ixavos, Who 
is sufficient for these things? and that, he, who 
warfares, to God, should not entangle himself with 
this world ; it is a sufficient and just conviction 
of those, who would divide themselves betwixt 
God and the world, and bestow any main part of 
their time upon secular affairs : but it hath no 
operation at all upon this tenet, which we have in 
hand; that a man, dedicate to God, may not so 
much as, when he is required, cast a glance of his 
eye, or some minutes of time, or some motions of 
his tongue, upon the public business of his king 
and country. Those, that expect this from us, 
may as well, and upon the same reason, hold that 
a minister must have no family at all ; or, if he 
have one, must not care for it : yea, that he must 
have no body to tend ; but be all spirit. 

My lords, we are men of the same composition 
with others; and our breeding hath been accor- 



SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 227 



dingly. We cannot have lived in the world, but 
we have seen it, and observed it too ; and our 
long experience and conversation, both in men 
and in books, cannot but have put something into 
us for the good of others: and now, having a 
double capacity, qua Gives, qua Ecclesiastici ; as 
members of the commonwealth, as ministers and 
governors of the church; we are ready to do 
our best service in both. One of them is no way 
incompatible with the other : yea, the subjects of 
thern both are so united with the church and 
commonwealth, that they cannot be severed : yea 
so, as that, not the one is in the other, but the one 
is the other, is both : so as the services, which we 
do, upon these occasions, to the commonwealth, 
are inseparable from our good offices to the 
church: so as, upon this ground, there is no 
reason of our exclusion. 

If ye say that our sitting in parliament takes up 
much time, which we might have employed in our 
studies or pulpits ; consider, I beseech you, that, 
while you have a parliament, we must have a 
convocation ; and that our attendance upon that 
will call for the same expence of time, which we 
afford to this service: so as, herein, we have 
neither got nor lost. 

But, I fear it is not, on some hands, the tender 

regard of the full scope to our calling, that is so 

much here stood upon ; as the conceit of too 

Q 2 



228 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



much honour, that is done us, in taking up the 
room of peers, and voting in this high court : for, 
surely, those that are averse from our votes, yet 
could be content we should have place upon the 
woolsacks; and could allow us ears, but not 
tongues. 

If this be the matter, I beseech your lordships 
to consider, that this honour is not done to us, 
but our profession; which, whatever we be in 
our several persons, cannot easily be capable of 
too much respect from your lordships. Ncn tibi^ 
sed Isidi; as he said of old. 

Neither is this any new grace, that is put upon 
our calling ; which if it were now to begin might 
perhaps be justly grudged to our unworthiness . 
but it is an ancient right and inheritance, inherent 
in our station : no less ancient than these walls, 
wherein we sit: yea, more: before ever there 
were parliaments, in the Magna Concilia of the 
kingdom we had our places. And as for my pre- 
decessors, ever since the conqueror's time, I can 
shew your Lordships a just catalogue of them, 
that have sat before me here : and, truly, though 
I have just cause to be mean in mine own eyes, 
yet why or wherein there should be more 
unworthiness in me than the rest, that I should be 
stripped of that privilege which they so long 
enjoyed, though there were no law to hold me 
here, I cannot see or confess. 



SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 229 

What respects of honour have been put upon 
the prime clergy of old, both by Pagans, and 
Jews, and Christians, and what are still both 
within Christendom and without, I shall not need 
to urge: it is enough to say, this of ours is not 
merely arbitrary ; but stands so firmly established 
by law and custom, that I hope it neither will nor 
can be removed, except you will shake those 
foundations, which I believe you desire to hold 
firm and inviolable. 

Shortly, then, my lords, the church craves no 
new honour from you; and justly hopes you will 
not be guilty of pulling down the old. As you 
are the eldest sons, and, next under his majesty ? 
the honourable patrons of the church : so she 
expects and beseeches you to receive her into 
your tenderest care; so to order her affairs, that 
ye leave her to posterity in no worse case than 
you found her. 

It is a true word of Damasus, Uti vilescit 
nomen Episcopi, omnis statna perturbatur Eccle- 
sicB. If this be suffered, the misery will be the 
church's : the dishonour and blur of the act in 
future ages will be yours. 

To shut up, therefore, let us be taken off from 
all ordinary trade of secular employments ; and, 
if you please, abridge us of intermeddling with 
matters of common justice : but leave us pos- 
sessed of those places and privileges in parliament, 



230 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



which our predecessors have so long and peace- 
ably enjoyed." * 

The rejection of this bill was the first check the 
commons met with in this parliament : and they 
were not a little disconcerted at it. The reso- 
lute conduct of the bishops at this time in defend- 
ing their rights and privileges, so inflamed the 
enemies of the church, that they came to a 
conclusion that there was no hope of obtaining 
their end as long as a root and branch of episco- 
pacy remained. Some of their leading members 
therefore brought in a bill for " the utter extirpa- 
tion of all bishops, deans, chapters, archdeacons, 
prebendaries, chaunters, with all chancellors, 
officials, and officers belonging to them ; and for 
the disposing of their lands, manors, &c. as the 
parliament should appoint."! This extraordinary 
bill was drawn up by Mr. St. John, and was 
delivered to the speaker by Sir Edward Dering 
from the gallery, with a short speech, in which 
he quoted two verses from Ovid, the application 
of which, it is said, was his greatest motive : 

"Cuncta prius tentanda: sed immedicabile vulnus 
Ense reddendum, ne pars sietcera trahatu.." 

Sir Edward observed, that the moderation and 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. x, pp. 70-72. 
f Nalson's Collections, vol. ii, pp. 248-300. 



BILL FOR DESTROYING EPISCOPACY. 231 

candour of the house were great in applying so 
gentle a remedy by the late bill ; as pruning and 
taking off a few unnecessary branches from the 
bishops was likely to make the tree prosper the 
better: but since this soft method proved inef- 
fectual by reason of their (the bishops') incorrigi- 
ble obstinacy, it was now necessary to put the 
" axe to the root of the tree." " I never was 
for ruin," said he, " as long as there was any 
hopes of reforming; and I now profess that if 
these hopes revive and prosper, I will divide my 
sense upon this bill, and yield my shouic'ers to 
to underprop the primitive, lawful, and just 
episcopacy. ' 

There was a great opposition to the reading of 
this bill, because it was not introduced in a par- 
liamentary way, viz. without first asking leave ; 
and because its tendency was to overthrow and 
disannul so many acts, and to change the consti- 
tution in church and state. But, as there were 
many very desirous of hearing it merely out of 
curiosity, and others from worse motives, it was 
read once, and then adjourned for nearly two 
months. 

A little before the king went into Scotland in 
the I eginning of Aug. 1641, it was carried by a 
majority of thirty-one voices to read it a second 
time, and deliver it to a committee of the whole 
house, of which Mr. Hyde, afterwards Lord 



232 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Clarendon, was chairman, who so dexterously 
managed the matter, that in about twenty days 
the bill was dropt, and was not resumed till the 
civil war commenced.* 

When it was debated in the house of commons 
to abolish deans and chapters, and to apply their 
revenues to better purposes, the cathedral clergy 
exerted themselves to the utmost to ward off the 
impending danger: they drew up a petition to 
both houses of parliament ; and for this end, one 
divine was deputed from each cathedral to solicit 
their friends on behalf of their respective founda- 
tions. They intended to retain council to plead 
for them, but being informed that the parliament 
would not allow them that benefit, but that they 
must appear and plead their own cause. Upon 
this, Dr. John Hacket, prebendary of St. Paul's 
and archdeacon of Bedford, was selected as their 
advocate, who, being admitted to the bar of the 
house, May 12, 1641, "Spoke with so much 
strength of reason and argument, with so much 
learning and courage, that it was not without its 
effect on the house, and seemed to put the busi- 
ness to a stand for the present. It was then 
thought by some, that had the question been then 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 11. Warner's 
Eccles. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, p. 540. Neal's Hist, of the 
Puritans, vol. ii, p. 426. Harris's Life of Charles I. pp. 379- 
381. Ed. 1814. 



VOTE OF THE COMMONS. 233 



put, it would have been carried in favour of the 
cathedrals by a great majority.* Petitions were 
also presented by the two universities; " but," 
says Heylin, " neither of them could prevail so 
far as take off the edge of the axe, which had 
been thus laid at the root of the tree, though it 
did blunt it at the present. For they, who 
managed the design, finning that the cathedral 
churches were too strongly cemented to be demo- 
lished in an instant, considered that the farthest 
way about, did many times prove the nearest way 
to the journey's end."f A bill was therefore pre- 
pared, by which it was to be enacted that the 
bishops should have no votes in parliament, &c. of 
which we shall have occasion to speak more at 
large hereafter. 

After a long debate upon the bill for abolishing 
deans and chapters, the commons passed the fol- 
lowing resolutions or votes, which did not pass 
into a law, as the house of lords would not con- 
cur in an act so detrimental to the interest of the 
church: — "That all deans and chapters, arch- 
deacons, prebendaries, chanters, canons, and 



* See Dr. Hacket's incomparable speech in his Life by Dr. 
Plurae, prefixed to his Sermons in fol. and in Nalson's Collec- 
tion, vol. ii, p. 240. See also Fuller's Church Hist. cent. 17, 
b- xi, pp. 176, 177. Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, 
p. 9. Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 475. 

t Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 476. 



234 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



their officers, shall be utterly abolished out of the 
church, and the lands taken from them, put in the 
hands of trustees, in order to support a fit number 
of ministers for the service of the church, and the 
reparation of the cathedrals." 

As long as the bishops were in the house of 
lords, they stood like a strong bulwark or wall 
against every attempt of the commons to subvert 
the church; but when they were forced out of 
the house, the commons carried all before them, 
and accomplished all their iniquitous designs 
against the church. 

In the month of March, 1640-1, the lords 
ordered that a committee of ten earls,ten bishops, 
and ten barons should be nominated to settle the 
affairs of the church : this was denominated the 
Committee of Accommodation. t their first 
meeting they appointed a sub-committee of bishops 
and divines of different persuasions, to consider 
such innovations in religion as were proper to be 
taken away. Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, was 
chairman to both, and was ordered to summon 
the committee, which he did by the following 
circular : — 

" I am commanded by the lords of the com- 
mittee for innovation in matters >f eligion, to let 
you know, that their said lordships have assigned 
and appointed you to attend them, as assistants 
in that committee; and to let you know in 



COMMITTEE OF ACCOMMODATION. 235 

general, that their lordships intend to examine all 
innovations in doctrine and discipline introduced 
into the church, without law, since the reforma- 
tion ; and (if their lordships shall find it behove- 
ful for the good of the church and state) to 
examine after that, the degrees and perfection of 
the reformation itself, which I am directed to 
intimate to you, that you may prepare your 
thoughts, studies, and meditations accordingly, 
expecting their lordships' pleasure for the parti- 
cular points as they shall arise." 

Dated March 12, 1640-1 .* 

The names of those bishops and divines, who 
attended, were these— 



They consulted together in the Jerusalem 
Chamber at Westminster, and were entertained 
all the while at the deans table. The result of 



* The date in Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 472, is March 21, 
and Dr. Walker, in his Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 29, 
has March 15. See his authorities in the margin, ib. 



Dr. Wifliams, bishop of Lincoln. 
Dr. Usher, archbishop of Armagh. 
Dr. Hall, bishop of Kxeter. 
Dr. Morton, bishop of Durham. 
Dr. Samuel Ward. 
Dr. John Prideaux. 
Dr. Sanderson. 
Dr. Featley. 
Dr. Brownrigge. 



Dr. Hackett. 
Dr. Twisse. 
Dr. Burgess. 
Mr. Whit . 
Mr. Ma; all, 
Mr.Calaniy. 
Mr. tii 1. 



Dr Holdsworth. 



236 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



their conference was drawn up for the debate of 
the committee, in a number of propositions and 
queries ; but before they could bring their consul- 
tations to any issue, the meeting was dispersed 
about the middle of May by the bringing in of the 
bill for abolishing deans and chapters. This 
caused such a division in this committee, even in 
their persons and affections, that they never after 
met together.* 

Fuller, speaking of the prelates and divines 
which formed the committee of accommodation, 
says, " that the moderation and mutual compli- 
ance of these divines might have saved the body 
of episcopacy, and prevented the civil war ; but 
the court bishops expected no good from them, 
suspecting the doctrinal puritans (as they nick- 
named those bishops and episcopal divines) 
joined with the disciplinary puritans, would 
betray the church between them. Some hot 
spirits would abate nothing of episcopal power or 
profit, but maintained, that the yielding any thing 
was granting the day to the opposite party." 
There may be much truth in the above remarks : 
yet, though the bishops and divines of this com- 
mittee were persons of great moderation and 



* Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 475. Walker's Sufferings of the 
Clergy, part i, p. 29. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, 
p. 432. 



COMMITTEE OF ACCOMMODATION. 237 

piety, and perhaps their scheme of accommoda- 
tion would have done much good, there were not 
only "hot spirits" in favor of episcopacy, who 
would " abate nothing of episcopal power or 
profit," but others of the opposite party, who 
would be satisfied with nothing less than the 
extirpation of episcopacy, root and branch. — I 
think, that though many of the puritan divines 
would have wished to retain episcopacy, it is 
evident that there existed a party, since the 
beginning of this parliament, who conspired 
the subversion of the church. — Rapin repre- 
sents the whole body of the puritans, which 
he calls presbyleriansi as having formed a con- 
spiracy against the church.* This is how- 
ever not correct. The most respectable puri- 
tans were only for reducing episcopacy into 
its primitive state, and for removing innovations 
in the church. But it must be acknowledged, 
that many were then hostile to the constitution 
of the church, being supported by the Scots 
commissioners, who had conceived a strong 
antipathy against episcopacy, and had actually 
voted it contrary to the word of God / This was 
not the case with many of the best of the puritans, 
who only desired to get rid of the exorbitant 
power exercised by some of the bishops. As the 



Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, pp. 359, 447> fol. ed. 



258 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



influence of the Scots increased, presbyterian 
discipline prevailed ; and when the parliament 
were at their mercy, and forced to submit to what 
conditions they would impose upon them for 
their assistance, the Kirk discipline gained the 
ascendant, and at last it was advanced into a 
divine right in the assembly of divines !* 

it is said that about this time a plot was dis- 
covered to bring up from the north the army to 
dissolve the parliament: this rumour caused 
much ferment among the people; whether there 
was any truth in it or not, it was made a handle 
to alienate the affection of the people from the 
king. Thus every kind of fuel was accumulated 
to kindle the fire of civil war and rebellion. 

While the commons were thus making prepara- 
tions for the subversion of the establishment, they 
were also active in proceeding against papists. 
It is said that they had a considerable share in the 
present calamities. They were numerous, and 
were become insolent and proud. The queen 
being a papist, protected and countenanced them. 
And the king, though he was undoubtedly 
attached firmly to the protestant religion, yet 
partly from the mildness and humanity of his 
temper, and chiefly from respect to the queen, 



* Neat's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 443. 



MEASURES AGAINST PAPISTS. 



239 



was rather remiss in executing the laws against 
them ; so his enemies made it a pretence that 
he himself countenanced and protected them : 
that there existed a secret design of introducing 
popery, and that several bishops and clergymen 
were in the plot. There was no truth in this. 
But it was evident that the face of things was 
very much changed since the commencement of 
this parliament, and that it was not in the kings 
power even to protect the catholics. All the 
officers of that persuasion were therefore removed 
from the army; the judges and magistrates were 
ordered to put the laws in execution against 
•popish priests and Jesuits : and catholics 
throughout the kingdom were commanded to be 
disarmed. In order more effectually to increase 
the popular fear of popery, Mr. Pym gravely 
alleged the discovery of a conspiracy against the 
parliament, and moved " that a protestation 
might be entered into by the members of both 
houses." A protestation was therefore made to 
this effect, that they did in the presence of 
Almighty God, promise, vow, and protest to 
maintain and defend, with their lives, power and 
estates, the true reformed protestant religion 
expressed in the doctrine of the church of 
England, against all popery, and popish innova- 
tions within this realm, contrary to the same 



240 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



doctrine; and also his Majesty's person, the 
power and privilege of parliament, the rights and 
liberties of the subjects, &c. &c. After being 
subscribed by all the commons, it was sent up 
to the house of lords, and was readily assented 
to by all the lords spiritual and temporal, except 
the Earl of Southampton and Lord Roberts, who 
positively refused it, since there was no'law that 
enjoined it, and since the consequence of such 
engagements might produce effects which were 
not then intended. Within two days after, with- 
out acquainting the peers, and contrary to the 
intention of most who took the protestation, the 
house of commons voted an explanation of it, as 
it was now in their power to put what sense they 
pleased upon it ; their explication of it, therefore, 
was, that it did not extend to the maintaining of 
any form of worship or government in the church 
of England. And lest it should not be sub- 
scribed voluntarily by the whole nation, as they 
desired, a bill was prepared and passed to com- 
pel all his Majesty's subjects to subscribe it. The 
lords however rejected such a bill. And the 
commons in anger, imputed it to the bishops and 
popish lords, immediately resolved, that who- 
soever should not take the protestation, was unfit 
to bear office in the church or commonwealth. 
At the same time they passed several severe 



IMPEACHMENT OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 241 

votes against the bishops and the church.* — 
" This was," says Neal, " carrying matters to a 
very extraordinary length; there had been a 
parliamentary association in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, which her Majesty confirmed ; and a 
solemn league and covenant in Scotland, which 
the king had complied with ; but the enforcing 
a protestation or vow upon his Majesty's subjects 
without his consent, was assuming a power, 
which even this dangerous crisis of affairs, and 
the uncommon authority with which this parlia- 
ment was invested by the Act of Continuance, 
can by no means support or justify. "t 

The changes, which took place since the com- 
mencement of this parliament, and during its 
continuance, were truly astonishing and prodi- 
gious. It will be proper here to take a brief view 
of some civil occurrences, which paved the way 
for them. The parliament, designing to bring 
corrupt ministers to justice, began with Thomas 
Went worth, Earl of Strafford, an able statesman, 
but hostile to the laws and liberties of his country, 
and impeached him of high treason, Nov. 11, 1640, 
Upon this he was taken into custody, committed 
to the tower, and brought to trial the 22d of 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, p. 542. Walker's 
Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 22. 
t Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 419. 

R 



242 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



March following. Harris says, that the king; and 
queen attended his trial incog* The king made 
some attempts to save his life, but through fear 
or irresolution, he was at last prevailed upon to 
sign the bill of attainder. And on the 12th of 
May, 1641, the unhappy Thomas Wentworth was 
beheaded upon Tower-hill, and submitted to the 
axe with a Roman bravery and courage : — the 
writer would have been glad to add rather that 
he died with Christian fortitude, and in a hope 
full of immortality ; but he cannot find any such 
account in the historians of the day. 

During the trial, as being a case of blood, the 
bishops did not attend ; consequently the bill of 
attainder passed with the dissent of only eleven 
peers. 

About this time, that most extraordinary bill, 
in which it was stated, " that this present parlia- 
ment shall not be adjourned, or dissolved, without 
their own consent" passed both houses with very 
little opposition, and obtained the royal assent ! ! 

All men stood amazed at the king's weakness 
on this occasion: for by this hasty and unadvised 
measure he concurred in a change of the whole 
constitution, giving to parliament a legislative 
power as long as they pleased ! If the king had 



* Life of Charles I, p. 370, ed. 1814. 



STAR CHAMBER, &C. ABOLISHED. 243 

fixed the continuance of this parliament to a 
limited time, it might probably have been satis- 
factory, and the prerogative be saved ; but by 
making them perpetual, he parted with the 
sceptre out of his own hands, and put it into the 
hands of this parliament, which had already 
shewn such hostile disposition to the constitution 
in church and state. 

Two other bills were now ready for the royal 
assent— one to abolish the court of high com- 
mission, and regulate the privy council; the other 
to take away the star-chamber. These bills 
passed and obtained the royal assent about the 
latter end of July, 1641. The high commission 
^ourt was erected by Queen Elizabeth: its juris- 
diction extended over the whole kingdom ; it 
suspended and deprived men of their livings. 
Instead of producing witnesses in open court 
to prove a charge against a person, the commis- 
sioners assumed a power of administering an oath 
ex officio, by which a person was bound to answer 
all questions, and might thereby be obliged to 
accuse himself or his most intimate friend. If he 
refused this oath, he was imprisoned for con- 
tempt; and if he took it, he was convicted upon 
his own confession. Though this court was 
intended to reform ecclesiastical errors, and to 
check heresies and schisms, yet it was often 

abused to vex and harass persons upon trivial 

R 2 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

occasions ; so that it was become a kind oi inqui- 
sition; as Granger says, " it was armed with an 
inquisitorial power to force any one to confess 
what he knew, and to punish him at discretion"* 
The star chamber was also a court consisting 
of certain noblemen, bishops, judges and coun- 
sellors, nominated by the sovereign who was the 
sole judge when present; the other members 
were only to give their opinion by way of advice. 
But in the absence of the sovereign, the deter 
mination was by a majority, the lord chancellor 
or keeper having a casting vote. This court was 
grown so unmerciful in its censures and punish- 
ments, that it was a great oppression to the 
nation.f 



* Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. i, p. 206. See also Hume's 
Hist, of England, vol. v, p. 189. 

f See Clarendon, vol.i, pp. 74, 68, &c. — In the ancient 
year books, it is called Camera Stellata, not because the cham- 
ber where the court was kept was adorned with stars, but 
because it was the seat of the great court, and the name was 
given according to the nature of its judges. " It was a glorious 
sight upon a star-day when the Knights of the Garter appear 
with the stars on their garments, and the judges in their scarlet; 
and in that posture they have sat sometimes from nine in the 
morning till rive in the afternoon. And it was usual for those 
that came to be auditors, to be there by three in the morning to 
get convenient places and standing. The Warden of the Fleet, 
or his deputy, constantly attended in court to receive their 
Lordships' commands, as there was occasion." " This court 
often inflicted fines and punishments ; but it was only in the 
days of Charles I. that cropping of ears, slitting of noses, brand- 
ing of faces, whipping, and gagging, were heard of in it." 
Rushworth, vol. ii, p. 473. 

t Harris's Life of Charles I, p. 308, ed. 1814. 



IMPEACHMENT OF THE BISHOPS. 245 

By the passing of the act for abolishing these 
courts, the whole authority and power of spiritual 
courts were effectually destroyed. When the 
king hesitated to give his royal assent to this bill, 
some of the bishops persuaded him to sign it, 
in order to take off the odium from that bench, 
that they were averse to reformation. 

When these two courts were abolished, which 
were the principal cause of the grievances com- 
plained of, and the chief engines of arbitrary 
proceedings in church and state, one might have 
supposed that surely now the church should have 
rest and quietness : — but no : it must be destroyed 
root and branch. Reformation could not be per- 
fected till episcopacy was abolished, and " the 
goodly lands and revenues" of the church be 
enjoyed by the reformers. 

The commons were not able to devise any 
effectual method to accomplish their intended 
change, while the bench of bishops remain- 
ed united in the house of peers. Several 
schemes were contrived to divide them, but 
proved unsuccessful. It was first proposed to 
impose large fines upon both houses of convoca- 
tion for compiling the late canons, and a bill for 
that purpose was introduced, but laid aside. For 
it was thought more effectual for the present to 
make examples of those bishops only who were 
the principal actors in these matters. Accord- 



24o* LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

ingly a committee was appointed July 31, 1641, 
to draw up an impeachment against thirteen of the 
bishops, viz. Dr. Curie, bishop of Winchester; 
Dr. Wright, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield ; 
Dr. Goodman, bishop of Gloucester; Dr. Jos. 
Hall, bishop of Exeter; Dr. Owen, bishop of St. 
Asaph; Dr. Pierse, bishop of Bath and Wells: 
Dr. Coke, bishop of Hereford; Dr.Wren, bishop 
of Ely; Dr. Roberts, bishop of Bangor; Dr. 
Skinner, bishop of Bristol ; Dr.Warner, bishop 
of Rochester ; Dr. Towers, bishop of Peter- 
borough; Dr. Owen, bishop of LandafT.* The 
impeachment was of high crimes and misde- 
meanours ; — " For making and publishing the late 
canons, contrary to the king's prerogative, to the 
fundamental laws of the realm, to the rights of 
parliament, and to the property and liberty oj the 
subject; and containing matters tending to sedition, 
and of dangerous consequence ; and for granting a 
benevolence or contribution to his Majesty, to be 
paid by the clergy of that province, contrary to law." 
It was carried up to the house of Lords about the 
beginning of August, by serjeant Wild, who 
demanded in the name of all the commons of 
England, that the bishops might be forthwith 



* Neal includes Dr. Laud archbishop of Canterbury in this 
list, and leaves out the bishop of Hereford ; but Dr. Laud at 
this time was in the Tower. — See Walker's Sufferings of the 
Clergy, parti, p. 7; pari ii, p. 34. 



bishops' defence. 



247 



put to answer the crimes and misdemeanours 
above mentioned, in the presence of the house of 
commons; and that such further proceedings 
might be had against them as to law and justice 
appertained. The commons were in hopes that 
the bishops would now have quitted their votes in 
parliament in order to be discharged of the prce- 
munire: but they determined and resolved to 
abide by their right, and therefore only desired 
time to prepare their answer and council. They 
were allowed accordingly three months' time to 
put in their answer, and to prepare council : for 
this purpose they nominated Serjeant Jermyn, 
Mr. Chute, Mr. Herne, and Mr. Hales, as their 
council. 

Nov. 12, 1641, the bishops delivered in their 
answers in writing, except the bishop of Glouces- 
ter, who pleaded not guilty by word of mouth. 
Their answers, consisting of a plea and demurrer y 
were drawn up for them by their council Mr. 
Chute, with such strength of argument and learn- 
ing, that their impeachment sunk away in silence.* 
The bishops' defence was made by a demurrer, 
with a view to prove that what they had done in 
the late convocation, could not amount to a 



* Fuller's Church Hist. b. xi, p. 183.— Meal's Hist, of the 
Puritans, vol. ii, p. 449.- Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, 
part i, p. 7. 



248 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



prtemunire. Bishop Hall, on this occasion, made 
the following impressive speech in defence of the 
canons made in convocation : 

" My Lords : 

" I cannot choose but know, that whosoever 
rises up in this cause must speak with the disad- 
vantage of much prejudice ; and, therefore, I do 
humbly crave your lordships' best construction. 
Were it, my lords, that some few doubting per- 
sons were to be satisfied in some scruples about 
matter of the canons, there might be some life in 
the hope of prevailing; but, now that we are 
borne down with such a torrent of general and 
resolute contradiction, we yield : but yet, give us 
leave, I beseech you, so to yield, that posterity 
may not say we have willingly betrayed our own 
innocence. 

" First, therefore, let us plead to your lordships 
and the world, that, to abate the edge of that 
illegality, which is objected to us, it was our 
obedience, that both assembled and kept us 
together, for the making of synodical acts. We had 
the great seal of England for it ; seconded by the 
judgments of the oracles of law and justice : and, 
upon these, the command of our superior, to 
whom we have sworn and owe canonical obe- 
dience. Now in this case, what should we do? 
Was it for us to judge of the great seal of 



SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. 249 

England? or to judge of our judges? alas! we 
are not for the law, but for the gospel ; or to dis- 
obey that authority, which was to be ever sacred 
to us? I beseech your lordships, put yourselves 
a while into our condition. Had the case been 
yours, what would you have done ? If we obey 
not, we are rebels to authority: if we obey, 
we are censured for illegal procedures. Where 
are we now, my lords? It is an old rule of cas- 
uists, Nemo tenetur esse perplexus. Free us, one 
way or other: and shew us, whether we must 
rather hazard censure, or incur disobedience. 

" In the next place, give us leave to plead our 
good intentions. Since we must make new canons, 
I persuade myself we all came, I am sure I can 
speak for one, with honest and zealous desires to 
do God and his church good service ; and 
expected to have received great thanks, both of 
church and commonwealth : for your lordships 
see, that the main drift of those canons was to 
repress and confine the indiscreet and lawless 
discourses of some either ignorant or parasitical, 
I am sure offensive preachers; to suppress the 
growth of Socinianism, Popery, Separatism ; to 
redress some abuses of ecclesiastical courts and 
officers : in all which, I dare say your lordships 
do heartily concur with them. And if, in the 
manner of expression, there have been any failings, 
I shall humbly beseech your lordships, that those 



250 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



may not be too much stood upon, where the main 
substance is well meant, and in itself profitable. 

" In the third place, give me leave to put your 
lordships in mind of the continual practice of the 
Christian church, since the first synod of the 
Apostles, Acts xv. to this present day: wherein I 
suppose it can never be showed, that ever any 
ecclesiastical canons made by the bishops and 
clergy in synods, general, national, provincial, 
were either offered or required to be confirmed 
by parliaments. Emperors and princes, by whose 
authority those synods were called, have still 
given their power to the ratification and execu- 
tion of them ; and none others: and, if you please 
to look into the times within the ken of memory 
or somewhat beyond it, Linwood's constitutions, 
what parliaments confirmed? The injunctions of 
Queen Elizabeth, the canons of King James, were 
never tendered to the parliament for confirmation ; 
and yet have so far obtained hitherto, that the 
government of the church was by them still regu- 
lated. Compare, I beseech you, those of King 
James with the present : your lordships shall find 
them many, peremptory, resolute ; standing upon 
their own grounds, in points much harder of 
digestion than these, which are but few and only 
seconds to former constitution. If, therefore, in 
this we have erred, surely the whole christian 
church of all places and times hath erred with 



SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. 



251 



us : either, therefore, we shall have too good 
company in the censure; or else we shall be 
excused. 

" Fourthly, give me leave to urge the authority 
of these canons. In which regard, if I might 
without offence speak it, I might say that the 
complainants have not, under correction, laid a 
right ground of their accusation. They say we 
have made canons and constitutions : alas ! my 
lords, we have made none. We neither did nor 
could make canons, more than they can make 
laws. The canons are so to the church, as laws 
are for the commonwealth. Now they do but 
rogare legem: they do not ferre or sancire legem: 
that is only for the king to do : it is le rot le veut, 
that of bills makes laws. So was it for us to do 
in matter of canons : we might propound some 
such constitutions, as we should think might be 
useful : but, when we have done, we send them 
to his Majesty; who perusing them cum avisa- 
mento Consilii sui, and approving them, puts life 
into them, and of dead propositions makes them 
canons. As, therefore, the laws are the king's 
laws, and not ours ; so are the canons the king's 
canons, and not the clergy's. Think thus of 
them; and then draw what conclusions you 
please. 

" As for that pecuniary business of our contribu- 
tion, wherein we are said to have trenched upon 



252 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



the liberty of subjects and propriety of goods ; I 
beseech your lordships, do but see the difference 
of times. We had a precedent for it. The same 
thing was done in Queen Elizabeth's time, in a 
mulct of three shillings the pound, and that after 
the end of the parliament, with the same clauses 
of suspension, sequestration, deprivation, without 
noise of any exception ; which now is cried down 
for an unheard-of encroachment. How legal it may 
be, I dispute not; and did then make bold to 
move: but, let the guide of that example, and the 
zeal that we had to the supply of his Majesty's 
necessities, excuse us a tanto at least; if, having 
given these as subsidies fitting the parliament, and 
the bill being drawn up for the confirmation of 
the parliament, we now, upon the unhappy disso- 
lution of it, as loth to retract so necessary a grant, 
were willing to have it continued to his Majesty's 
use. 

" But, my lords, if I may have leave to speak my 
own thoughts, I shall freely say, that, whereas 
there are three general concernments, both of 
persons and causes, merely ecclesiastical, merely 
temporal, or mixt of both ecclesiastical and tem- 
poral: as it is fit, the church by her synod should 
take cognizance of and order for the first, which 
is merely ecclesiastical ; so, next under his 
Majesty, the parliament should have the power of 
ordering the other. 



SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. 253 

" But, in the mean time, my lords, where are 
we? The canons of the church, both late and 
former, are pronounced to be void and forceless. 
The church is a garden or vineyard enclosed: the 
laws and constitutions of it are as the wall or 
hedge : if these be cast open, in what state are 
we? Shall the enemies of this church have such 
an advantage of us, as to say, we are a lawless 
church? or shall all men be left loose to their 
licentious fredom ? God in heaven forbid ! 

" Hitherto, we have been quietly and happily 
governed by those former canons : the extent 
whereof we have not, I hope, and for some of us, 
I am confident we have not, exceeded. Why 
should we not be so still? Let these late canons 
sleep, since you will have it so, till we awake 
them, which shall not be till doomsday; and let 
us be where we were, and regulate ourselves by 
those constitutions which were quietly submitted 
to on all hands: and, for this, which is past, since 
that which we did was out of our true obedience, 
and with honest and godly intentions and accor- 
ding to the universal practice of all Christian 
Churches, and with the full power of his Majesty's 
authority, let it not be imputed to us as any way 
worthy of your Lordships' censure."* 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. x, pp. 67-69. 



CHAPTER VII. 



The time was now come, within two or three 
days, for the king's intended journey into Scot- 
land : the commons therefore thought proper to 
lay aside their debates about the church, which 
were becoming daily more involved and intri- 
cate, and to attend to other affairs more necessary 
for the public good. The business of both houses 
being very urgent and the time short, they voted, 
that, in this case of necessity, they would sit the 
next day, being Sunday, by six o'clock in the 
morning. After having first heard a sermon, 
they returned to the house about nine, and sat all 
day. (Sunday, Aug. 8, 1641.) The house of lords 
were also prevailed upon to do the same. There 
never was any other such instance known before, 
since the first institution of parliament. How- 
ever, lest this might be misconstrued as a profa- 
nation, or be drawn into example, they published 
the following declaration : 

" Whereas both houses of parliament found 
it fit to sit in parliament upon the 8th of August, 



king's JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND. 255 



being Lord's day, for many urgent occasions, 
being straitened in time, by his Majesty's resolu- 
tion to go within a day or two to Scotland, they 
think it fit to declare that they would not have 
done this but upon inevitable necessity; the 
peace and safety of both church and state being 
so deeply concerned, which they do hereby 
declare to this end, that neither any other inferior 
court or council, or any other person, may draw 
this into example, or make use of it for their 
encouragement, in neglecting the due observance 
of the Lord's day." 

The king set out for Scotland, Aug. 11,1641, 
and arrived in Edinburgh in three or four days. 
During the kings absence, both houses of parlia- 
ment continued their sittings. But, as the sum- 
mer was drawing to a close, and the plague 
increasing in London, many members of both 
houses went down to the country. And those 
who remained in tow r n, w r ere not very solicitous to 
attend parliament. This was an opportunity, 
which the enemies of the church did not fail to 
improve. "When therefore there were only about 
one hundred and twenty members present, they 
entered on a debate about the book of Common 
Prayer. They pretended that, as many things in it 
gave great offence, or at least, umbrage to tender 
consciences, they proposed that there might be a 
liberty to disuse it. But such a motion, at this 



256 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



time, was of so unacceptable a nature, that 
though the house was so thinly attended, and it 
was much urged by persons of the greatest autho- 
rity and power, yet it was so far from being 
assented to, that it was resolved by a great majo- 
rity, that the book of Common Prayer should be 
duly observed. However, the next day, contrary 
to all rules and order of parliament, many being 
absent, who had a share in the debate the day 
before, the house suspended the above order, and 
resolved, " that the standing of the communion 
table in all churches should be altered, the rails 
should be pulled down, the chancels should be 
levelled, and that no man should presume to bow at 
the name of Jesus. " # Having digested these godly 
resolutions into an order, they carried it to the 
house of lords, presuming that, on account of the 
paucity of number in the house of peers, there 
would be no dissent. But the lords were much 
offended at such presumption relating to an affair, 
which had so plain a tendency to disturb the 
peace of the church, and interrupt its settled and 
legal government ; and they not only refused to 
concur with them, but directed an order made 
about seven months before to be printed and dis- 
persed ; requiring " divine service to be per- 
formed as it is appointed by acts of parliament, 



* Clarendon, vol. i, b.iv, p. 292. 



LECTURERS. 



257 



and all such as shall disturb that wholesome 
order to be punished severely according to law." 
The commons, enraged at this refusal, pursued 
their former order, and declared that this of the 
lords should not be obeyed. In the midst of this 
ferment and opposite councels, the sword having 
been taken out of the hands of the spiritual courts, 
it is no wonder that the state of religion was so 
unsettled, and that the proper forms of worship in 
the church were but negligently observed. Under 
pretence of encouraging preaching, the commons 
licensed lecturers in every parish; and recom- 
mended such lecturers in all populous places, as 
were not well affected to the government in 
church and state. Dr. Walker, in his " Sufferings 
of the Clergy/' gives a curious account of these 
factious lecturers, with some no less curious and 
strange specimens of their lectures. These lec- 
turers were designed as a kind of tools in the 
hands of the commons, to undermine the fabric of 
the church.* Neal, speaking of these lecturers, 
says, " far be it from me to apologize for the 
furious preachers of these times : though the 
complaints of the royalists are very much exag- 
gerated." f 

Both houses now consented to a recess, and so 



* Part i, pp. 16-20. 

t Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 463. 



258 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



adjourned for about six weeks. Bishop Hall, 
during his Majesty's absence in Scotland, and this 
recess, went down to Exeter ; and upon the day 
of thanksgiving for the pacification between the 
Scots and the English, Sep. 7, 1641, preached in 
the cathedral of Exeter, from Ps. xlvi, 8, 9. " Come, 
behold the ivorks of the Lord, what desolations he 
hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease 
unto the ends of the earth." The good bishop, in 
this excellent discourse, after taking a general 
survey of God's wonderful works, and then a 
special view of the divine justice, took occasion 
to consider the mercy of God in appeasing all 
broils and tumults, and pathetically adverted to 
the troubles of the church and state : " Are we 
troubled with the fears or rumours of war? Are 
we grieved with the quarrels and dissensions, that 
we find within the bosom of our own nation or 
church? Would we earnestly desire to find all 
differences composed, and a constant peace settled 
amongst us? We see whither to make our 
address, even to that Omnipotent God, " who 
maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth ; 
who breaketh the bow, and snappeth the spear in 
sunder." And, surely, if ever any nation had 
cause to complain in the midst of a public peace, 
of the danger of private distractions and factious 
divisions, ours is it; wherein 1 know not how 
many uncouth sects are lately risen out of hell, 



SERMON AT EXETER. 259 

to the disturbance of our wonted peace ; all of 
them eagerly pursuing their own various fancies, 
and opposing our formerly received truth. What 
should we do then, but betake ourselves in our 
earnest supplications to the God of peace, with a 
6 help, Lord 2' Never ceasing to solicit him with 
our prayers, that he would be pleased so to order 
the hearts of men, that they might incline to a 
happy agreement; at least to a meek cessation of 
those unkind quarrels, wherewith the church is 
thus miserably afflicted." 

Hence it appears how grieved Bishop Hall 
was at the present sad state of the church, and 
how much he lamented the deplorable discords, 
which were threatening destruction to the consti- 
tution in church and state. He again feelingly 
observed, " Woe is me, with what words should I 
bewail the deplorable estate of these late times in 
this behalf! Let me appeal to your own eyes 
and ears. I know I speak to judicious christians. 
Tell me whether ever you lived to see such an 
inundation of libellous, scandalous, malicious 
pamphlets, as ha\e lately broke in upon us; not 
only against some particular persons which may 
have been faulty enough ; but against the lawful and 
established government itself; against the ancient, 
allowed, legal forms of divine worship. Cer- 
tainly, if we love the peace of this church and king- 
dom, we cannot but lament, and, to our power, 

s 2 



260 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



oppose these insolencies. If reformation be the 
thing desired and aimed at, let not that man 
prosper, which doth not affect it, pray for it, bend 
his utmost endeavours to accomplish it : but is 
this the way to a christian reformation, to raise 
slanders, to broach lying accusations against the 
innocent, to calumniate lawful and established 
authority? God forbid! These are the acts of him, 
that is the manslayer from the beginning. The 
Holy God hates to raise his kingdom by the aid 
of the devil. Be as zealous as you will : but be, 
withal, just: be charitable; and endeavour to 
advance good causes, by only lawful means. 
And then, let him come within the compass of the 
curse of Meroz, that is not ready to assist and 
second you.*" 

These extracts from the bishop's sermon cast a 
considerable light upon the iniquitous proceed- 
ings then carried on for the subversion of the 
church. The means employed at this time to 
render people disaffected towards the rulers in 
church and state were certainly very scandalous, 
and so very reverse to that meek and peaceable 
disposition, the characteristic of genuine Chris- 
tianity: " Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" says 
the Psalmist, " they shall prosper that love thee.'' 
" Certainly, thus it should be," says Bishop Hall, 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. v, pp. 479-481. 



THE VACANT DIOCESES FILLED. 261 

u but, alas, we are fallen upon times, wherein 
it is cause enough for a quarrel, to plead for 
peace !" 

Whilst the king was in Scotland, a report was 
circulated, that, as he had conceded so much to 
the Scots in abolishing episcopacy, he would be 
persuaded to introduce presbytery into England 
at his return ; upon which, the king sent a letter 
to the clerk of the council, " commanding him to 
assure all his servants, that he would be constant 
to the doctrine and discipline of the church of 
England, and that he resolved by the grace of 
God to die in the maintenance of it." This was 
dated Edinburgh, Oct. 18, 1641. 

His Majesty, during his stay in Scotland, 
resolved to fill up those sees which were become 
vacant by death or translation; he therefore 
ordered several Conge d'elires to be drawn up for 
that purpose. 

But when the commons heard of this designa- 
tion, they were much disturbed and troubled, that, 
at a time when they were intent upon taking away 
the old bishops, the king should presume to make 
new ones. They therefore voted a committee to 
draw up reasons to be presented to the house of 
lords, for joining with them in a petition to his 
Majesty, that he would suspend his commands 
till he returned home. The king, however, in a 
short time after, collated to the vacant sees, and 



262 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



translated to others, men of great eminence in the 
church, frequent preachers, and not one to whom 
the faults of the governing clergy were then im- 
puted, or against whom the least objection could 
be made. The promotions and translations, 
which accordingly then took place, were the 
following, viz. Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, 
was made archbishop of York in the room of 
Dr. Neile deceased. Dr. Winniffe, dean of St. 
Paul's, a grave and moderate divine, was made 
bishop of Lincoln. Dr. Duppa, bishop of Chi- 
chester was translated to Salisbury, vacant by 
the death of Dr. Davenant : and Dr. King, dean 
of Rochester was promoted to Chichester. Dr. 
Jos. Hall was now translated from Exeter to 
Norwich, in the room of Dr. Montague deceased. 
Dr. Brownrigge, master of Catherine Hall, Cam- 
bridge, an eminent and learned divine, was 
advanced to Exeter. Dr. Skinner was translated 
from Bristol to Oxford, vacant by the death of 
Dr. Bancroft. And Dr. Westfield, archdeacon 
of St. Albans, a very popular preacher, was pro- 
moted to Bristol. Dr. Prideaux, king's professor 
of divinity in Oxford, was made bishop of Wor- 
cester, in the room of Dr. Thornborough decea- 
sed. The see of Carlisle being also vacant by 
the death of Dr. Barnabas Potter, who was called 
the penitential preacher, was given in commendam 
to the most reverend Dr. Usher, archbishop of 



INSURRECTION IN IRELAND. 263 

Armagh and primate of Ireland. All these were 
very eminent and excellent divines, and were 
ornaments of their profession. It was a proof of 
the king's consulting the welfare of the church in 
this very critical time, to promote such characters. 
Neal invidiously remarks that "most of these 
divines stood well in the opinion of the people, 
but their accepting bishoprics in this crisis did 
neither the king nor themselves any service."* 
But was not their accepting of bishoprics at such 
a time a proof of their determination to stand up 
in defence of the church to the last extremity ? 
Was it not a proof of their sincerity, of their 
undiminished attachment and affection to the 
Church ? And was there not here a demonstra- 
tion of his Majesty's disposition of promoting the 
prosperity of the church and the welfare of his 
subjects to the utmost ? 

Before the king left Scotland, news arrived in 
London, Nov. 1, 1641, that the papists of Ireland 
had made a general insurrection, and committed 
a most cruel and bloody massacre of the pro- 
testants of that kingdom. Neal and other histo- 
rians insinuate that the king was not unacquainted 
with these barbarities : but there is no sufficient 
proof that his Majesty was at all a promoter of 



* Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 480. 



264 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



such enormities. However, through the dis- 
sentions between the king and parliament, effec- 
tual means of suppressing it were delayed too 
long: so that, because a timely relief was not 
afforded to Ireland, it proved ultimately very 
disadvantageous to the king. 

The two houses of parliament were no sooner 
assembled after the recess, than a motion was 
made in the house of commons to revive the com- 
mittee appointed at the beginning of this parlia- 
ment, in order to draw up a general remonstrance 
of the state of the nation, and the particular 
grievances it had sustained. This extraordinary 
bill was presented to the king at Hampton Court, 
Dec. 1, 1641, about a week after his return from 
Scotland. 

Some such remonstrance was probably season- 
able and proper, when the parliament first met 
after a scene of arbitrary power and oppression 
for so many years : but at this time it was unne- 
cessary and unseasonable, when the grievances 
complained of had been redressed, and since the 
king had already made so many concessions. 
The remonstrance was read in the house of com- 
mons, Nov. 22, when it met with so strong an 
opposition, that it was carried only by nine voices, 
Clarendon says : but Harris, in his life of Crom- 
well, p. 73, says, that " the numbers for passing 
the remonstrance were one hundred and fifty nine, 



REMONSTRANCE OF THE COMMONS. 265 



against it one hundred and forty eight, so it was 
carried by eleven voices,''* after a long debate of 
twelve hours, from three in the afternoon till three 
in the morning, which made one of the members 
to say, " It looked like the verdict of a starved 
jury.' ? t This remonstrance contained a long and 
bitter representation of all the illegal acts of admini- 
stration from his Majesty's accession to that time. 
It was accompanied with a petition for redress of 
the grievances therein contained. As far as it 
concerned the church, it was stated in the peti- 
tion, " that his Majesty would concur with his 
people in a parliamentary way, for depriving the 
bishops of their votes in parliament, and abridging 
their immoderate power usurped over the clergy, 
and other his good subjects, to the hazard of reli- 
gion, and the prejudice of the just liberties of his 
people: — for the taking away such oppressions 
in religion, church government and discipline, as 



* Journal, 22 Nov. 1641. 

t Harris, in his Life of Cromwell, p. 70, supposes the per- 
son who made this remark was Sir Benj. Rudyard, who, accord- 
ing to Willis, was in thrte parliaments, the representative for 
Portsmouth, afterwards returned for old Sarum, for Downton, 
and for Wilton. See Whitlock's Memorials, p. 51; and Neal's 
History of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 481. Wel.vood, in his 
"Memoirs," p. 62, says, that " the debate lasted from three 
o'clock in the afternoon till ten o'clock next morning ! !" A 
bill for depriving the bishops of their seats and votes in parlia- 
ment had before been cast out and rejected by ihe peers: it 
was certainly not only unreasonable, but very unparliamentary, 
to presume to introduce such a bill again in the same session. 



266 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



have been brought in and fermented by them ; and 
for uniting all such loyal subjects as agree in 
fundamentals against papists, by removing some 
oppressions and unnecessary ceremonies, by which 
divers weak consciences have been offended, and 
seemed divided from the rest." And lastly, his 
Majesty was requested " to remove from his 
councils all favourers of popery and arbitrary 
power, and promoters of the above-mentioned 
pressures and corruptions, and to employ such as 
his parliament might confide in ; and that in his 
princely goodness he would reject all solicitations 
to the contrary, how powerful and near soever."* 

The king,in his answer to this petition about a week 
after, remonstrated with great justice against the 
disrespect of the commons in printing their remon- 
strance before he had time to return an answer. 
His Majesty declared, " that he was very willing 
to concur with all the just desires of his people in a 
parliamentary way, for preserving the peace of 
the kingdom from the designs of the popish 
party. He thought the right of the bishops to 
vote in parliament was grounded on the funda- 
mental laws of the kingdom, and constitutions of 
parliament ; and there needed no other answer 
to that at present, since they desired his concur- 



* Nalson's Collections, vol. ii, p. 692. Welwood's Memoirs, 
p. 243. 



REPLY OF THE KING. 



267 



rence in a parliamentary way. As for abridging 
the extraordinary power of the clergy, his 
Majesty said, that he thought the abolishing the 
High Commission, with that clause relating to all 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, had already moderated 
that power ; but if there continued any usurpa- 
tions, or excesses, in their jurisdiction, he neither 
had, nor would protect them. Concerning church 
corruptions, as they were styled, and removing 
unnecessary ceremonies, the king told them, that 
he was willing to concur in the removal of any 
illegal innovations, which have crept in ; and if 
the parliament advised to a national synod, he 
would consider of it, and apply himself to give 
satisfaction in it. But he was sorry to hear 
in such general terms of corruption in religion, 
since he was persuaded in his own conscience, 
that no church can be found upon earth, that 
professes the true religion with more purity of 
doctrine, than the church of England does ; nor 
where the government and discipline are jointly 
more beautiful, and free from superstition, than 
they are here established by law ; which by the 
grace of God he would with constancy maintain 
in their purity and glory, not only against all 
invasions of popery, but also from the irreverence 
of those many schismatics and separatists, where- 
with of late this kingdom and this city abound, 
to the great dishonour and hazard of church and 



268 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



state ; for the suppression of whom he required 
their timely aid, and active assistance."* 

This answer, of course, could not be satisfac- 
tory to the commons, and their leaders, who were 
intent upon abolishing the hierarchy in toto : but 
the king treated them with much greater respect 
than they deserved. 

The matters contained in the petition and 
remonstrance of the state of the nation presented 
to the king by the commons, and in the king's 
answer, and the declaration he afterwards pub- 
lished to the same purpose, were some of the real 
causes of the ensuing civil war, and of the cala- 
mities sustained by the nation. 

December 15, 1641, the king published a 
declaration f to all his loving subjects, with the 
advice of his privy council, in which he professed 
himself fully satisfied " that the religion of the 
church of England is most agreeable to the word 
of God, and that he should be ready to seal it 
with his blood, if God should call him to it. That 
as for ceremonies in religion, which are in their 
own nature indifferent, he is willing in tenderness 
to any number of his subjects, that a law should 



* See Welwood's Memoirs, p. 286. 

f This declaration was drawn up by Mr. Hyde, afterwards 
Lord Clarendon; it was so ably done, that it considerably 
counteracted the mischief of the remonstrance. See Lord 
Clarendon's Life, vol. i, pp. 85-87. 



ROYAL DECLARATION. 



269 



be made for the exemption of tender consciences, 
from punishment or prosecution for such cere- 
monies, as by the judgment of most men are held 
to be indifferent, and of some to be absolutely 
unlawful, provided the peace of the kingdom be 
not disturbed, nor the present decency and 
comeliness of God's service established in the 
church discountenanced : nor the pious, sober, 
and devout actions of those reverend persons, 
who were the first labourers in the blessed refor- 
mation, be scandalized and defamed. That he 
cannot, without grief of heart, and some tax upon 
himself and his ministers for not executing the 
laws, look upon the bold licence of some men, in 
printing pamphlets aud sermons so full of bitter- 
ness and malice against the present government, 
and the law established, so full of sedition against 
himself and the peace of the kingdom, that he is 
many times amazed to consider by what eyes 
these things are seen, and by what ears they are 
heard ; he therefore commands again all his 
officers and ministers of justice to proceed against 
them with all speed, and put the laws in 
execution. "* 

It was expected that the issue of the impeach- 
ment of the thirteen bishops for compiling and sub- 



* Welwood's Memoirs, pp. 291-302. Rushworth, part iii, 
vol. i, p. 456. Neal, vol. ii, p. 487. 



270 



LIFE OF 



BISHOP HALL. 



scribing the late canons, which were published at 
the conclusion of the former parliament, would 
have tended greatly to weaken the court interest 
in the house of peers. But the impeached bishops 
having put in their answer by way of demurrer, as 
we have above related, dissatisfied and greatly 
disappointed the commons, who expected their 
lordships would have pleaded directly to the 
accusation. The peers were moved by Serjeant 
Glyn to set aside the demurrer, and to admit the 
commons to prove the charge, or else proceed 
immediately to judgment. But the peers, instead 
of complying with this request of the commons, 
agreed that the bishops should abide by their 
demurrer, as they desired, and appointed the 
Monday following, Dec. 11, to hear them by 
their council in the presence of the commons. 
The commons resented this way of proceeding, 
and so would not appear. Many of the most 
active members now declared among their friends, 
with a sort of despair, that they would be con- 
cerned no further against the bishops, for they 
saw it was in vain. The truth is, as Bishop Hall 
observes in his " Hard Measure," " there was a 
general plot and resolution of the faction to alter 
the government of the church especially ;" which 
object was not to be accomplished as long as the 
bishops were in the way. And it is not impro- 
bable, the malignity of the factious party being 



PETITIONS. 



271 



considered, that there was also a design formed 
against the king, which could not be executed, 
as long as the bishops, by the number of their 
votes, were able to oppose and prevent it. In 
this case they saw that they must either give up 
their project, or undertake some more effectual 
means to obtain by force, what they were not able 
to accomplish in any other way. They imagined 
that they could by one bold and vigorous assault, 
possess themselves of the entire sovereignty, 
therefore, says Bishop Hall, fi it was contrived to 
draw petitions accusatory from many parts of 
the kingdom, against episcopal government : and 
the promoters of the petitions were entertained 
with great respects." Petitions were encouraged 
from all sorts and orders of people ; " even the 
city dames," says Dr. Walker, " sent an address 
against the votes of the bishops and the popish 
lords. "* The apprentices of London sent a peti- 
tion directed " to the King's most excellent 
Majesty f desiring that prelacy might be rooted 
out, that so the work of reformation might be 
prosperously carried on." Dugdale says, in his 
" Short View of the Toables in England,"! that 
there was a paper delivered to the minister at 
Christ Church, the Sunday following, desiring that 



* Sufferings of the Clergy, pail, i, p. 50. 
t P. 80. 



272 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



prayers might be made to God to assist the 
apprentices with strength to root out superstition, 
and to extirpate the innovations of the bishops and 
clergy." " Such stuff," slanderous pamphlets, 
libels, canting and factious discourses were 
printed and dispersed in abundance with great 
industry among the people. The next step taken 
was the procuring of a mob to beset the two 
houses of parliament. When these petitions 
were carried up to Westminster by the aldermen 
and common council of London, who went in a 
procession of sixty coaches, attended by a vast 
concourse of the rabble and baser sort; great 
tumults and disturbance were occasioned about 
the parliament house, particularly when the 
apprentices brought up their petition against the 
bishops. Sir Richard Wiseman, who was at their 
head, was killed by a tile or stone from the bat- 
tlements of Westminster Abbey. The house of 
lords exerted themselves to disperse the mob, by 
sending the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod 
to command the people to disperse, and go to 
their respective homes. His Majesty also pub- 
lished a proclamation, Dec. 28, 1641, forbidding- 
all tumultuous assemblies of the people. But the 
commons were very backward in making an 
exertion to suppress disturbances ; the rabble 
therefore " were animated to the height of inso- 
lence, and would make a stand before Whitehall; 



TUMULTS. 



•273 



and when the bishops were passing to Westmin- 
ster, would cry, " No bishops!" "No popish 
lords T It was pretended that this concourse 
of people only waited for an answer to their 
petition; but it rather appears that it was designed 
to terrify the bishops and their friends from 
attending parliament. Certainly no reason can 
be assigned that these tumults were accidental, 
as Neal, and others, tell us. The whole process 
evidences that it was a contrivance of the party 
inimical to the church and state. Even Mr. 
Pym said publicly, when it was proposed to 
suppress those tumults, " God forbid the house 
of commons should in any way proceed to dis- 
hearten people to obtain their just desires in this 
way! "* Such was the zeal of the patriot, and his 
friends, for the privileges of parliament, when the 
privileges of parliament should have been used in 
favour of the church and constitution. 

The tumults still continued about the parlia- 
ment house; and the commons encouraged them, 
by voting the guard set by the magistrates to 
prevent and suppress disorder, to be a breach of 
privilege, though there was a legal writ under 
the great seal for appointing such guard. The 



* Clarendon, vol. ii, p. 336. Dugdale's Short View of the 
Troubles in England, p. 80. Warner's Eccles. Hist. vol. i i ^ 
p. 549. 



T 



274 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



rage and fury of the rabble against the bishops 
grew so great, that they threatened to pull down 
their lodgings. The bishops could not now go into 
or out of the parliament house without abuse and 
insults, and without manifest danger of their lives. 
Dr. Williams, archbishop of York, going to the 
house of peers in company with the Earl of Dover? 
and hearing one of the rabble crying out louder 
than the rest, " no bishops!" " no popish lords !" 
stept from the earl, and laid hands on him ; but 
his companions rescued him, assaulted the 
archbishop, and tore his robes from his back, 
and, it was believed, if he had not been timely 
rescued he would have been murdered.* The 
bishops were now advised to forbear their atten- 
dance in the house ; but they were determined to 
maintain their rights, till they were forced to 
relinquish them. The streets being crowded with 
the rabble, the bishops agreed to go by water to 
the house; but, as soon as their barges came 
near the shore, the mob saluted them with stones 
and other missiles, so that they were forced to 
return to their lodgings, and to forbear their 
attendance " out of a real apprehension of endan- 
gering their lives." Upon this, the archbishop of 
York calling together as many of the bishops as 



* Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. ii, p. 338. 



PROTESTATION OF THE BISHOPS. 275 

were in town (it being now within few days to 
Christmas) to the number of twelve,consulted with 
them what measures were best to be taken in 
this critical juncture. He advised not to attempt 
to go to the house any more, and hastily drew up 
a protestation against whatsoever should be done 
in both houses in their absence, addressed to the 
king and the house of lords ; this all the other 
bishops approved and signed. Heylin says, " as 
this protestation was the last flash of their dying 
light, it is proper to keep it from expiring as long 
as possible therefore the reader is here presented 
with a copy of it. 

11 To the king's most excellent majesty, and 
the lords and peers now assembled in parliament. 
" The humble petition and protestation of 
all the bishops and prelates now called by his 
Majesty's writs to attend the parliament, and 
present about London and Westminster for that 
service. — 

" Whereas the petitioners are called up by 
several and respective writs, and under great pen- 
alties to attend the parliament, and have a clear 
and undubitable right to vote in bills, and other 
matters whatsoever debateable in parliament, by 
the ancient customs, laws, and statutes of this 
realm, and ought to be protected by your Majesty 

quietly to attend and prosecute that great service : 

T 2 



276 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



they humbly remonstrate and protest before God, 
your Majesty, and the noble lords and peers now 
assembled in parliament, that as they have an 
ind imitative right to sit and vote in the house of 
lords, so are they, if they may be protected from 
force and violence, most ready and willing to 
perform their duties accordingly : and that they 
do abominate all actions or opinions tending to 
popery and the maintenance thereof ; as also, all 
propension and inclination to any malignant party, 
or any other side or party whatsoever, to the 
which their own reasons and conscience shall not 
move them to adhere. But whereas they have been 
at several times violently menaced, affronted, and 
assaulted, by multitudes of people in their coming 
to perform their services in that honourable 
house, and lately chased away and put in danger 
of their lives, and can find no redress or protection 
upon sundry complaints made to both houses 
in these particulars : they humbly protest before 
your Majesty, and the noble house of peers, that 
saving unto themselves all their rights and interest 
of sitting and voting in that house at other times> 
they dare not sit or vote in the house of peers 
until your Majesty shall further secure them 
from all affronts, indignities, and dangers, in the 
premises. Lastly, whereas their fears are not 
built upon fantasies and conceits, but upon such 



PROTESTATION OF THE BISHOPS. 277 



grounds and objections as may well terrify men of 
good resolution and much constancy, they do, in 
all duty and humility, protest before your majesty, 
and the peers of that most honourable house of 
parliament, against all laws, orders, votes, resolu- 
tions, and determinations as in themselves null, 
and of none effect, which in their absence, since 
the 27th of this instant month of December, 1641, 
have already passed ; as likewise against all such 
as shall hereafter pass in that most honourable 
house, during the time of this their forced and 
violent absence from the said most honourable 
house ; not denying, but if their absenting them- 
selves were wilful and voluntary, that most 
honourable house might proceed in all these 
premises, their absence on this their protestation 
notwithstanding. And humbly beseeching your 
most excellent Majesty to command the clerk of 
the house of peers, to enter this their petition and 
protestation among their records, 

u And they will ever pray God to bless, &c. 



John Eborac. 
Thos. Punelm. 
Ro. Cov. Lichf. 
Jos. Norwich 
Jo. Asaph. 



Gul. Bath and Wells. 



Geo. Hereford. 
Rob. Oxon. 
Mat, Ely. 

Godfrey Gloucester. 
Jo, Peterborough. 
Mor. Landaff. 



This protestation was presented by Archbishop 



278 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Williams to the king, who hastily perused it, # 
and sent it to the lord keeper Littleton, " with a 
command to present it to the house of peers," as 
Lord Clarendon says: but Hacket, the biogra. 
pher of archbishop Williams, says, " that his grace 
jput it into the hands of the lord keeper to be read 
when his Majesty was at the house." However, 
the bishops, who signed this protestation, con- 
fided in the archbishop's experience in the rules 
of the house, where he sat as speaker for many 
years. But it was not difficult to discern that in 
such a juncture, some advantage and ill use 
would have been made of it, and that it could not 
produce any good effect. Upon the reading of 
the protestation in the house of lords the next 
morning, and after some debate, the peers re- 
quested a conference with the commons, when 
the lord keeper in the name of the peers declared 
that " the protestation of the bishops contained 
matters of high and dangerous consequence, 



* The bishops, after having subscribed the protestation, 
intended to have further consultation concerning the legal 
mode of delivering it. But it appears from Bishop Hall's 
<' Hard Measure," that the archbishop was too hasty and pre- 
cipitate ; and that the lord keeper also did take undue advan- 
tage of this irregularity, to aggravate " the matter, as highly 
offensive and of dangerous consequence," with a view of ingra- 
tiating himself with the house of commons and the faction. 
See Bishop, Hall's " Hard Measuse" for further particulars. 



IMPEACHMENT OF THE BISHOPS. 279 

extending to the intrenching upon the fundamen- 
tal privileges and being of parliaments, and there- 
fore the lords thought fit to communicate it to the 
commons." 

The house of commons took very little time to 
consider the matter ; but, within half an hour, 
resolved to accuse the twelve bishops of high 
treason, and sent up their impeachment to the 
house of lords by Mr. Glyn. 

Upon this the usher of the black rod was 
ordered to go immediately in search of them, and 
bring them to the bar of the house of lords. " We 
poor souls," says Bishop Hall in his " Hard 
Measure/' " who little thought that we had done 
any thing that might deserve a chiding, are now 
called to our knees at the bar, and charged 
severally with high treason; being not a little 
astonished at the suddenness of this crimination, 
compared with the perfect innocence of our own 
intentions, which were only to bring us to our due 
places in parliament with safety and speed, with- 
out the least purpose of any man's offence." 

As the bishops' lodgings were scattered, it was 
eight o'clock at night, Dec. 30, 14 in all the 
extremity of frost," when all the bishops appeared, 
except the bishop of Landaff, who was ordered 
to be brought up the next day. They were seques- 
tered from parliament and committed to the 
Tower. But the bishops of Durham and Lich- 



280 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

field found the favour to stand committed to the 
custody of the gentleman usher of the black 
rod, the former, on account of his eminent learn- 
ing, and both, in regard of their great age and 
infirmities. The same favour was solicited for 
Bishop Hall by a noble lord, but was not granted. 
Respecting this circumstance, Bishop Hall tells 
us, " wherein I acknowledge and bless the 
gracious providence of God, for had I been grati- 
fied, I had been undone both in body and purse; 
the rooms being strait, and the expence beyond 
the reach of my estate." Fuller therefore and 
Neal must be mistaken in telling us that Bishop 
Hall was one of the two bishops, who obtained 
this favour, and had an allowance of five pounds 
a day for their expences. # 

Though there might be some indiscretion in too 
precipitately drawing up the above protestation 
at such a time, some expressions probably might 
be rather unwarrantable, and unfortunately the 
manner of presenting it might be irregular; yet 
there could not be the least treason whatever in it. 
Therefore, the injustice, cruelty, and impiety of 
committing twelve venerable bishops to the Tower 



* Fuller's Church Hist. b. xi, p. 188. — Neal's Hist, of the 
Puritans, vol. ii, p. 497. — See also Walker's Sufferiugs of the 
Clergy, part, i, p. 54, 



NEW BILL AGAINST THE BISHOPS. 281 



for the charge of high treason, whereby their 
honour, lives, and fortunes were liable to be for- 
feited, their names exposed to infamy, and their 
families to want, rendered the factious party more 
odious, their base designs more manifest, and the 
respect shewn to parliament much less. Indeed, 
after the factious party had once resolved to 
subvert the established government, it could not 
be expected that their proceedings would be 
either regular or just. In their attacks upon the 
church, they scrupled not to transgress all bounds 
of justice, charity, and moderation, in the most 
open, base, and shameless manner.* 

Immediately after the bishops were committed 
to the Tower, the commons sent up to the peers 
to desire they would take into consideration the 
bill, which had been before them for some months, 
for taking away the bishops' votes. The faction 
now had a fair opportunity to accomplish their 
iniquitous designs, which they improved to the 
utmost. As it is well known that a bill once 
rejected, cannot be regularly presented in the 
same session of parliament, therefore the bill for 
taking away the bishops' votes, " which had been 
twice before rejected since the beginning of this 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 560. 



282 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

session,'' # was now entitled " A Bill for taking 
away all Temporal Jurisdiction from those in Holy 
Orders." The house of lords being now no 
longer the same since the exclusion of the bishops, 
and this extraordinary bill being resumed at such 
a juncture, after a few debates, it passed in the 
house of lords by a great majority. Dr. Warner, 
bishop of Rochester, was the only bishop present 
left to defend the cause when the bill passed. 
This prelate strongly and valiantly defended the 
antiquity and justice of bishops' votes in parlia- 
ment. The Earl of Bedford also took a part in 
making a vigorous defence against the bill : it 
was urged that it was contrary to the usage of 
parliament, when a bill had been once rejected, 
to bring it in a second time in the same session ; 
to which it was replied, that it had now another 
title, and therefore not the same bill, though it was 
to accomplish the same end! 

In order to avoid the odium of innovating in so 
extraordinary a manner upon the constitution, the 
Earl of Essex and Baron Kimbolton had before 
endeavoured to prevail with the bishops volun- 
tarily to relinquish their right of voting in parlia- 
ment in order to gratify the importunity of the 
commons, assuring tliem that the temporal lords 



* See Bishop Hall's " Hard Measure." 



PETITIONS IN FAVOUR OF EPISCOPACY. 283 

would be bound in honour to support them in all 
the essentials of their character, if they would 
give up their right iu this particular. But the 
bishops would not divest themselves of their 
peerage in order to gratify the malignancy of the 
factious party, who were so intent upon the 
destruction of the constitution in church and 
state.* 

We have before mentioned that there have been 
great exertions made in favour of the church* 
Petitions had been sent from different parts of the 
kingdom, signed with nearly one hundred thou- 
sand hands in favour of the bishops, desiring some 
speedy course might be taken to suppress such 
schismatics and separatists, whose factious spirits 
endangered the peace of church and state. Nov. 
18, 1641, a petition from Rutlandshire was pre- 
sented to the house, signed by about eight hun- 
dred and forty hands, praying for the continuance 
of episcopacy, as the only government of aposto- 
lical institution, sealed with the blood of martyrs, 
admirably suited to the civil government of this 
kingdom, and affirming that no presbyter ever laid 
on hands without a bishop. Dec. 8th, a similar 
petition from Huntingdonshire was presented, 



* See Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix, p. 185. 



284 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



and two days after another from Somersetshire, 
signed with above fourteen thousand signatures. 
There were aiso petitions from Cheshire, Notting- 
hamshire, Devon, Stafford, Kent, North Wales, 
the counties of Lancaster, Cornwall, and Here- 
ford. The Devon petition had eight thousand 
signatures ; that from Stafford, three thousand ; 
and those from North Wales, thirty thousand.* 

Notwithstanding all efforts to preserve the 
church, the bill against the bishops passed, and the 
city of London celebrated the event with bells and 
bonfires. His Majesty, when strongly importuned 
and strongly urged to give his royal assent to it, 
replied, that it was a matter of so great concern, 
that therefore he would take time to consider and 
advise, and would let them know his mind in a 
convenient time, But this delay was extremely 
unpleasant to those who could not well attack the 
sovereignty, till the bishops' votes were abolished. 
They therefore sent again the same day to the 
king, who was at Windsor, to urge his compliance 
for these reasons — " because of the grievances 
the subjects suffered by the bishops' exercise of 
temporal jurisdiction, and their making a party in 



* Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. is, p. 499.— Warners 
Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 551. — Nalson's Collections, 
vol. ii, pp. 726, 727. — Dr. Grey's Exam, of Neal, vol. i, pp. 
312, 314. 



BILL PASSED. 



285 



the house of lords — because of the great content 
it would give by the happy conjunction of both 
houses in their absence — and because the passing 
this bill would be a comfortable pledge of his 
Majesty's gracious assent to the future remedies 
of those evils which were to be presented to 
him." # 

Thus was his Majesty persuaded to pass this 
bill, after which he was not in a situation to deny 
them any thing. 

There were some of the greatest trust about 
his Majesty, who, being "faithful enough to his 
service," though weak enough in their judgments, 
and ignorant of the constitution, persuaded him 
to pass this bill, as the only way to preserve the 
church. The king thought upon this subject in a 
far more able manner than his councellors : and, 
though it was a fault which ran through his 
government, because he yielded upon many occa- 
sions his own understanding, which in general 
was superior to that of his ministers ; yet, upon 
this point, he was long inflexible : and had his 
Majesty persevered, probably he would have 
prevented much of that confusion, which his 
compliance with this bill let in, like an inundation 



* Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i, p. 427. 



286 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

upon church and state, and which ended in the 
ruin of both. But unfortunately he could refuse 
nothing to the solicitations of the queen, who 
being persuaded that her own preservation de- 
pended on his Majesty's passing the bill, exerted 
all her influence for his assent : so that the queen 
prevailed on his Majesty, that he sent a commis- 
sion for enacting this and another bill then ready 
for the royal assent. The many sad effects, which 
the passing this bill, brought upon the church and 
state, are too well known, and are fully narrated 
by our historians. The passing of this bill was 
" one of the three things which laid heaviest on 
his Majesty in the time of his solitude and suffer- 
ings, as appears by the following passage in one 
of his prayers : " Was it through ignorance that I 
suffered innocent blood to be spilt by a false pre- 
tended justice ? or that I permitted a wrong way 
of worship to be set up in Scotland? or injured 
the bishops in England?" By which we see, 
that the injury done unto the bishops of England 
is put into the same scale with his permitting 
a wrong way of worship in Scotland, and the 
shedding of the innocent blood of the Earl of 
Strafford." * 

By the passing of this bill the king's party was 



* Heyliu's Life of Archbishop Laud, p. 493. 



REASONS AGAINST THE BISHOP'S VOTES. 287 

exceedingly weakened : and, as they never after- 
wards put any confidence in him that he would 
deny the parliament any act whatsoever that 
would be urged with importunity, so they partly 
withdrew or suffered themselves to be carried 
along with the stream. 

The house of commons published their reasons 
against the bishops' votes in parliament, which 
were ably answered by Bishop Hall in his Trea- 
tise entitled A short answer to those nine argu- 
ments, which are brought against the bishops sit- 
ting in parliament." Afterwards, by order of a 
committee of the house of commons, there was 
published " An humble examination of a printed 
abstract of the answers to nine reasons of the house 
of commons, against the votes of bishops in parlia- 
ment." # 

As a curiosity, the nine reasons of the commons 
are here given, and the reader is referred to 
Bishop Hall's short answer to them in vol. x. of 
his Works, pp. 62-64. 

1. Reason of the house of commons against the 
votes of bishops in parliament: " Because it is a 
very great hinderance to the exercise of their 
ministerial function. 

2. " Because they do vow and undertake at 



* Lond. printed for P. Stephens and C. Meredith, 1641, 4to. 



288 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



their ordination, when they enter into holy orders, 
that they will give themselves wholly to that 
vocation. 

3. " Because councils and canons, in several 
ages, do forbid them to meddle with secular 
affairs. 

4. " Because the twenty-four bishops have a 
dependency upon the archbishops, and because 
of their canonical obedience to them. 

5. " Because they are but for their lives, and 
therefore are not fit to have legislative power over 
the honours, inheritances, persons, and liberties 
of others. 

6. " Because of bishops' dependency and 
expectancy of translations to places of greater 
profit. 

7. " The several bishops have of late much 
encroached upon the consciences and properties 
of the subject; and they and their successors 
will be much encouraged still to encroach, and 
the subject will be much discouraged from com- 
plaining against such encroachments, if twenty- 
six of that order be to be judges upon these com- 
plaints. The same reason extends to their legis- 
lative power, in any bill to pass for the reforma- 
tion of their power upon any inconvenience by it. 

8 S " Because the whole number of them is 
interested to maintain the jurisdiction of bishops, 
which hath been found so grievous to the three 



IMPEACHMENT OF THE FIVE MEMBERS. 289 



kingdoms, that Scotland hath utterly abolished 
it, and multitudes in England and Ireland have 
petitioned against it. 

9. " Because bishops being lords of parliament, 
it setteth too great a distance between them and 
the rest of their brethren in the ministry, which 
occasioneth pride in them, discontent in others, 
and disquiet in the church." # 

His Majesty, having been assured that Lord 
Kimboltou, and five members of the house of 
commons, viz Denzill Hollis, Sir Arthur Hasle- 
rigge, John Pyrn, John Hamden, and William 
Stroud, Esqrs. had invited the Scots into England, 
and were now the chief encouragers of those 
tumults, which occasioned the exclusion of the 
bishops from parliament; that they had aspersed 
his government, were endeavouring to deprive 
him of his royal power, and were conspiring to 
levy war against him, resolved to impeach them 
of high treason. Accordingly, Jan. 2, 1641-2, 
Sir Edward Herbert, the Attorney General, by 
his Majesty's command, accused the above-men- 
tioned persons of high treason; but the members 
not being ordered into custody, as his Majesty 
expected, the king went himself the following 
day into the house with his guard, in order to 
seize them. Being apprized of the king's coming, 



* Harris's Life of Charles I, p. 382, ed. 1814. 



290 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



the members had just time enough to make their 
escape into the city. While the king was in the 
chair, the house was in a terrible panic, the door 
and all the avenues being filled with officers and 
soldiers. After a little while the king withdrew, 
when he found that those members had escaped : 
and as soon as his Majesty was gone, they 
adjourned till the next day, and then for a week. 
The king proclaimed the accused members trai- 
tors ; but they were vindicated by the parliament, 
as well as protected and entertained by the city 
of London, who conducted them, Jan. 11, in 
great pomp to Westminster, from whence the 
king, with his family, had retired the day before 
to Hampton Court. In this situation of affairs, 
the king resolved to retire to York, whither he 
travelled by easy stages, and never returned to 
London, till he was brought thither as a criminal 
to execution. 

The king's coming to the house of commons in 
person to demand five of their members impeached 
of high treason, was the most unlucky step that 
could have been taken at that juncture; and the 
indiscretion of some that attended the king to the 
lobby of the house, was insisted upon as an 
argument that the king was resolved to me vio- 
lence upon the parliament, which it is to be pre- 
sumed was a thing far from his thoughts. It is 
said that the persons who advised the king to this 



COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. 291 

rash attempt, are justly chargeable with all the 
blood that was afterwards spilt during the "grand 
rebellion." 

Though endeavours on both sides have not 
been wanting to accommodate matters by soft 
and healing methods, yet now, after the above 
circumstance, scarce any hopes of a conciliation 
remained. When, after several removals from 
place to place, his Majesty set up his standard at 
Nottingham, there ensued a fatal and bloody war, 
which probably was at first not designed by either 
side. # 

The twelve bishops, confined in the Tower, 
petitioned the peers for council, which was granted 
them : and about a fortnight after their commit- 
ment, Jan. 17, 1641-2, they appeared at the bar 
of the house of lords, and pleaded not guilty, in 
manner and form. They presented a petition also, 
praying for a speedy trial, and that in the mean 
time they might be admitted to bail. Accord- 
ingly, the 25th of January was appointed for their 
trial ; but their request of being admitted to bail 
was now denied them, and so they were remanded 
back to the Tower. It appears that the principal 
design of their impeachment, and of proroguing 
their trial, was to keep them from the house, till 



* Welwood's Memoir*, pp. 63-65, 
U 2 



292 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



the bill for taking faway their votes was passed, 
for the commons must have been conscious that it 
was as easy to charge them with murder, or adul- 
ter?/, as with high treason.* When the day of 
their trial arrived, the Lieutenant of the Tower 
brought them again to the bar of the house ; but, 
after severe and bitter declamations made against 
them, they were told that it was then too late in 
the day to proceed in their trial, and that another 
day should be fixed, " which day, to this day," 
says Bishop Hall in his " Hard Measure," " never 
came." f 

However, after some weeks, as the charge of 
high treason against the bishops could not be 
maintained, the commons drew up another bill, 
wherein they declared them "to be delinquents 
of a very high nature," and that it should be 
enacted that they should lose their spiritual pro- 
motions for life, only there should be an annual 
allowance to each bishop for his maintenance. 

Feb. 21, 1641-2, it was ordered that a bill 
should be drawn up for the forfeiture of the tern- 
para/ and spiritual estates of these twelve prelates, 
and for the imprisonment of their persons during 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 54. 

f The reader is referred to the Bishop'-s " Hard Measure," for 
a more particular account of the circumstances of this mock 
irial and unjust imprisonment. 



THE BISHOPS ADMITTED TO BAIL. 293 

their lives, and for the disposal of all livings that 
might fall within their gifts : but afterwards it was 
resolved that the archbishop of York should not 
forfeit his temporals, and that he should be allowed 
£100. a year out of his ecclesiastical incomes. 
The bishop of Durham was to be allowed £800. 
a year. The bishop of Ely £100. The bishop of 
Norwich £400. The bishop of Bath and Wells 
£100. The bishop of Lichfield and Coventry 
£800. The bishop of Gloucester £200. The 
bishop of Hereford £500. The bishop of Peter- 
borough £100. The bishop of Oxford £100. The 
bishop of St. Asaph £500. And the bishop of 
Landaff .£200. "This bill was sent up to the 
lords, and by them also passed ; and there hath 
ever since lain," says Bishop Hall, in his " Hard 
Measure." Of how little effect this order proved 
for the maintenance of these venerable prelates, it 
may be guessed from the account Bishop Hall 
gives us of his own case. # 

The twelve bishops again, after some weeks, 
petitioned the Lords to be admitted to bail, and 
have liberty to return to their respective homes. 
At the Earl of Essex's motion, the lords admitted 
them to bail. Their release so offended the com- 
mons, that they expostulated with the lords in 



* See " Hard Measure. 



294 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



terms of great indignation, and caused the bishops 
to be recommitted to the Tower, where they 
remained about six weeks longer, till the 5th of 
May, 1642, when, upon their earnest petition, 
they were set at liberty, upon giving five thousand 
pounds bond. 

During their confinement in the Tower, the 
bishops preached in their turn every Lord's-day 
to a large auditory of citizens. One of the ser- 
mons, which Bishop Hall preached in the Tower, 
March 20th, 1642, is the thirty-sixth sermon in 
the fifth volume of his Works, from James iv, 8. 
Draw nigh nnto God, and he will drawn nigh to 
you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners ; and purge 
your hearts, ye double-minded. 

Bishop Hall has given us a very lively 
portraiture of the placid state of his mind, his 
patience, innocence, and conscious integrity, not 
only in his " Letter from the Tower," and in 
his " Hard Measure," but also in his treatise 
entitled ff The Free Prisoner, or the Comfort of 
Restraint," written by him in the Tower, and 
addressed to a certain friend : he considered 
this restraint as safety. " This strong tower,'' 
says he, " serves not so much for our prison, 
as for our defence ; what honor soever the name 
may carry in it. I bless God for these walls, 
out of which, I know not where we could for 
the time have been safe from the rage of the 



LETTER FROM THE TOWER. 295 

mis-incensed multitude. Poor seduced souls! 
They were taught it was piety to be cruel ; and 
were mispersuaded to hate and condemn us for 
that, which should have procured their reverence 
and honour, even that holy station, which we 
hold in God's church ; and to curse those of us 
who had deserved nothing but their thanks and 
prayers, railing on our profession in the streets, 
and rejoicing in our supposed ruin. " Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they did." 
Here we were out of the danger of this mis-raised 
fury ; and had leisure to pray for the quenching 
of those wild fires of contention and causeless 
malice, which, to our great grief, we saw wicked 
incendiaries daily to cast amongst God's dear and 
well-minded people. Here we have well and 
happily approved, with the blessed Apostle, that 
whatever our restraint be, the word of God is not 
bound. With what liberty, with what zeal, with 
what success, hath that been preached to all 
comers! Let them say, whether the Tower had 
ever so many such guests, or such benedictions ; 
so as, if the place have rendered us safe, we have 
endeavoured to make it happy. Wherein our 
performances have seemed to confute that, which 
Cornelius, bishop of Rome, long since observed, 
" that the mind laden with heavy burdens of 
afflictions, is not able to do that service, which it 
can do, when it is free and at ease." Our 



296 



LlFE of bishop hall. 



troubles, through God's mercy, made us more 
active, and our labours more effectual."* 

But his " Letter sent from the Tower, to a 
private friend, and by him thought fit to be pub- 
lished," indicates in a particular manner the state 
of his mind, and his sense of integrity, during his 
unjust confinement. This celebrated letter is 
here inserted : — 

"To my much-respected good friend, Mr. ELS. 

" Worthy Sir, 

* 4 You think it strange, that I should salute you 
from hence. How can you choose, when I do 
yet still wonder to see myself here? My inten- 
tions and this place are such strangers, that I 
cannot enough marvel how they met. 

" But, howsoever, I do in all humility kiss the 
rod wherewith I smart ; as well knowing whose 
hand it is that wields it. To that Infinite Justice, 
who can be innocent? but to my king and 
country never heart was or can be more clear ; 
and I shall beshrew my hand, if it shall have, 
against my thoughts, justly offended either : and 
if either say so, I reply not ; as having learned 
not to contest with those that can command 
legions. 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol.vii, pp. 519, 520. 



LETTER FROM THE TOWER. 



297 



" In the mean time, it is a kind but a cold com- 
pliment, that you pity me ; an affection well 
placed, where a man deserves to be miserable : 
for me, I am not conscious of such merit. 

" You tell me in what fair terms I stood, not 
long since, with the world ; how large room I 
had in the hearts of the best men : but can you tell 
me how I lost it ? Truly, I have, in the presence 
of my God, narrowly searched my own bosom. 
I have impartially ransacked this fag-end of my 
life, and curiously examined every step of my 
ways ; and I cannot, by the most exact scrutiny 
of my saddest thoughts, find what it is that I 
have done to forfeit that good estimation where- 
with you say I was once blessed. 

" J can secretly arraign and condemn myself 
of infinite transgressions before the tribunal of 
heaven. Who, that dwells in a house of clay, 
can be pure in his sight that charged his angels 
with folly ? O God, when I look on the reckon- 
ings betwixt thee and my soul, and find my 
shameful arrears, I can be most vile in my own 
sight, because I have deserved to be so in thine: 
yet, even then, in thy most pure eyes, give me 
leave the while not to abdicate my sincerity. 
Thou knowest my heart desires to be right with 
thee, whatever my failings may have been : and 
I know what value thou puttest on those sincere 



298 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



desires, notwithstanding all the intermixtures of 
our miserable infirmities. These I can penitently 
bewail to thee : but, in the mean time, what have 
1 done to men ? Let them not spare to shame 
me with the late sinful declinations of my age ; 
and fetch blushes, if they can, from a wrinkled 
face. 

" Let my enemies (for such I perceive I have, 
and those are the surest monitors) say what I 
have offended. For their bitter irritation, my 
clear conscience bids me boldly to take up the 
challenge of good Samuel, 6 Behold, here I am ! 
Witness against me before the Lord, and before 
his anointed : whose ox have I taken ? or whose 
ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? 
whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I 
received any bribe, to blind mine eyes therewith ? 
and I will restore it you.' 

" Can they say, that L bore up the reins of 
government too hard ; and exercised my juris- 
diction in a rigorous and tyrannical way, inso- 
lently lording it over my charge ? Malice itself, 
perhaps, would, but dare not speak it ; or, if it 
should, the attestation of so grave and numerous 
a clergy would choke such impudence. Let 
them witness, whether they were not still enter- 
tained by me with an equal return of reverence, 
as if they had been all bishops with me, or I only 
a presbyter with them ; according to the old rule 



LETTER FROM THE TOWER. 299 

of Egbert, archbishop of York, Intra domum 
episcopus collegam se presbyter orum esse cognoscaU 
Let them say, whether aught here looked like 
despotical ; or sounded rather of imperious com- 
mands, than of brotherly complying : whether 
I have not rather, from some beholders, under- 
gone the censure of a too humble remissness ; as 
perhaps, stooping too low beneath the eminence 
of episcopal dignity: whether 1 have not suf- 
fered as much in some opinions, for the winning 
mildness of my administration, as some others 
for a rough severity. 

" Can they say, for this aspersion is likewise 
common, that I barred the free course of religious 
exercises, by the suppression of painful and 
peaceable preachers? If shame will suffer any 
man to object it, let me challenge him to instance 
but in one name. Nay, the contrary is so 
famously known in the western parts, that every 
mouth will herein justify me. What free admis- 
sion and encouragement have I always given to 
all the sons of peace that came with God's 
message in their mouths ! What missuggestions 
have I waved! What blows have I borne off 
in the behalf of some of them, from some gain- 
sayers ? How have I often and publicly pro- 
fessed, that, as well might we complain of too 
many stars in the sky, as too many orthodox 
preachers in the church ? 



300 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



" Can they complain, that I fretted the necks of 
my clergy with the uneasy yoke of new and 
illegal impositions! Let them, whom I have 
thus hurt, blazon my unjust severity, and write 
their wrongs in marble : but if, disliking all novel 
devices, I have held close to those ancient rules 
which limited the audience of our godly prede- 
cessors ; if I have grated upon no man's conscience 
by the pressure, no not by the tender, of the late 
oath, or any un prescribed ceremony ; if I have 
freely, in the Committee appointed by the most 
honourable house of peers, declared my open 
dislike in all innovations, both in doctrine and 
rites; why doth my innocence suffer? 

" Can they challenge me as a close and back- 
stair friend to Popery or Arminianism, who have, 
in so many pulpits and so many presses, cried 
down both? Surely, the very paper, that I have 
spent in the refutation of both these, is enough 
to stop more mouths than can be guilty of this 
calumny. 

" Can they check me with a lazy silence in my 
place ? with infrequence of preaching ? Let the 
populous auditories, where I have lived, witness, 
whether, having furnished all the churches near 
me with able preachers, I took not all oppor- 
tunities of supplying such courses, as I could get^ 
in my cathedral; and, when my tongue was silent, 
let the world say whether my hand were idle. 



LETTER FROM THE TOWER. 301 



" Lastly, since no man can offer to upbraid me 
with too much pomp, which is wont to be the 
common eye-sore of our envied profession, can 
any man pretend to a ground of taxing' me, as I 
perceive one of late hath most unjustly done, of 
too much world liness? Surely, of all the vices 
forbidden in the decalogue, there is no one, which 
my heart, on due examination, can less fasten on 
me, than this. He, that made it, knows that he 
hath put into it a true disregard (save only for 
necessary use) of the world ; and of all that it 
«an boast of, whether for profit, pleasure, or 
glory. No, no : I know the world too well to 
dote on it. While I am in it, how can 1 but use 
it? but I never care, never yield to enjoy it. 
It were too great a shame for a philosopher, a 
christian, a divine, a bishop, to have his thoughts 
grovelling here upon earth : for mine, they scorn 
the employment; and look upon all these sublu- 
nary distractions, as upon this mans false censure, 
with no other eyes than contempt. 

"And now, Sir, since I cannot, how secretly 
faulty soever, guess at my own public exorbi- 
tances, I beseech you, where you hear my name 
traduced, learn of mine accusers, whose lyncean 
eyes would seem to see further into me than my 
own, what singular offence I have committed. 

" If, perhaps, my calling be my crime; it is no 
other than the most holy fathers of the church in 



302 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



the primitive and succeeding ages, ever since the 
apostles, many of them also blessed martyrs, 
have been guilty of: it is no other than all the 
holy doctors of the church in all generations 
ever since have celebrated, as most reverend, 
sacred, inviolable: it is no other than all the 
whole christian world, excepting one small 
handful of our neighbours, whose condition denied 
them the opportunity of this government, is 
known to enjoy, without contradiction. How 
safe is it erring in such company ! 

" If my offence be in my pen, which hath, as it 
could, undertaken the defence of that apostolical 
institution, though with all modesty and fair 
respects to the churches differing from us, I 
cannot deprecate a truth ; and such I know this 
to be : which is since so cleared by better hands, 
that I well hope the better informed .world can- 
not but sit down convinced. Neither doubt I, 
but that, as metals receive the more lustre with 
often rubbing, this truth, the more agitation it 
undergoes, shall appear every day more glorious. 
Only, may the good Spirit of the Almighty 
speedily dispel all those dusky prejudices from 
the minds of men, which may hinder them from 
discerning so clear a light. 

" Shortly, then, knowing nothing by myself, 
whereby I have deserved to alienate any good 



RELEASE. 



303 



heart from me, I shall resolve to rest securely upon 
the acquitting testimony of a good conscience, 
and the secret approbation of my gracious God ; 
who shall one day cause mine innocence to break 
forth as the morning light, and shall give me 
beauty for bonds; and, for a light and momentary 
affliction, an eternal weight of glory. 

" To shut up all, and to surcease your trouble, 
I write not this as one that would pump for favor 
and reputation from the disaffected multitude ; 
for I charge you, that what passes privately 
betwixt us may not fall under common eyes : 
but only with this desire and intention, to give 
you true grounds, where you shall hear my name 
mentioned with a causeless offence, to yield me 
a just and charitable vindication. Go you on 
still to do the office of a true friend, yea, the duty 
of a just man, in speaking in the cause of the 
dumb, in righting the innocent, in rectifying the 
misguided ; and, lastly, the service of a faithful 
and christian patriot, in helping the times with 
the best aid of your prayers ; which is daily the 
task of 

" Your much devoted 

and thankful friend, 

From the Tower « JQS. NORVIC." 

Jan. 24, 1641-2. 



304 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

As soon as Bishop Hall was released from the 
Tower, he immediately withdrew to Norwich, to 
which See he was translated in November, 1641. 
He was not released from the Tower till May 5, 
1642, in a few days after he came for the first 
time to his new diocese; and he tells us that he 
was at first received with much greater respect 
than might have been expected in such trouble- 
some times. The day after his arrival in Nor- 
wich, he preached in the Cathedral " to a 
numerous and attentive people," and he " was 
not sparing of his pains in this way," till he was 
forbidden by men, and at last disabled by God." 

An account of his sufferings and deprivations 
are given in a subsequent part of this volume, 
together with the treatise entitled his "Hard 
Measure," containing a history of his own suf- 
ferings, written by himself; a Treatise which it is 
impossible to read without a degree of honest 
indignation at the meanness, as well as the bar- 
barity, of his merciless persecutors. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



After the king had retired to York, as it has 
been before mentioned, every thing tended to an 
open rupture between his Majesty and the parlia- 
ment, since the legislature was divided, and the 
constitution broken. At this time a long paper 
war (the prelude to one of a far more fatal 
consequence) ensued, between the king and 
parliament: both sides were loading each other 
with abundance of reproaches and bitter lan- 
guage, and neither was now thinking about an 
accommodation. 

In order to encourage the factious and schis- 
matical, who were imagining that the reformation 
was carried on too slowly, the parliament pub- 
lished a declaration, " that they intended a due 
and necessary reformation of the government 
and liturgy of the church, and to take away 
nothing in the one or other, but what should be 
evil and justly offensive, or at least unnecessary 
and burdensome ; and would speedily have con- 
sultation with godly and learned divines : but 



306 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



because that would never of itself attain the end, 
they would use their utmost endeavours to 
establish learned and preaching ministers with 
a good and sufficient maintenance through the 
kingdom." 

This declaration, which was intended to en- 
courage their friends who were anxious about 
their intended reformation of the church, as well 
as to allay the fears of others, whose eyes were 
beginning to open and to see the destruction 
threatened to church and state, was printed 
and dispersed in every market-town in the king- 
dom. June 2, 1642, the parliament, by a com- 
mittee, presented the king with the sum of all 
their desires for the reformation and safety of 
church and state, in nineteen propositions. Those 
relative to the church were the following: — 
" That his Majesty would be pleased to consent, 
that such a reformation be made of the church 
government and liturgy, as both houses of par- 
liament shall advise, wherein they intend to have 
consultation with divines, according to the decla- 
ration above; and that his Majesty will contribute 
his best assistance for the raising a sufficient 
maintenance for preaching ministers through the 
kingdom ; and will give consent to the laws for 
the taking away innovations, superstition, and 
pluralities, and against scandalous ministers." 
In answer to these propositions, his Majesty 



CIVIL WAR. 



307 



referred them to what he has said in his answer 
to their petition and remonstrance in his first 
declaration, and to his message sent on passing 
the bill against the bishops' votes. But as for 
the bills against superstitions, innovations, &c. 
his Majesty declared he could say nothing to 
them till he saw them.* 

It was now manifest that the controversy 
between the king and parliament, which had been 
hitherto carried on with the pen, must be decided 
with the sword. Both sides collected as much 
strength as possible, and the horrible scene of 
civil war began, and the land was deluged with 
blood. The writer of this volume refers his 
courteous readers to Lord Clarendon's History 
of the Grand Rebellion, and other historians, for 
a copious and detailed account of that scene of 
confusion, of blood-shedding, and miseries, which 
now ensued in consequence of the unhappy dif- 
ferences between the king and parliament. Truly 
it was a scene as horrible and shocking to 
humanity, as it was scandalous, cruel, and dis- 
honourable to the English nation. Those times 
will be an indelible blot on the page of English 
history, and a disgrace to our country. But the 
troubles of those times, may, however, be viewed 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 552. 
X 2 



308 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



as wisely ordered by Providence, as a memorable 
lesson and warning to posterity, to guard against 
factions parties in religion and politics. The 
result of those troubles and confusion brought 
then upon the church aud state, teaches us how 
delusive and destructive must have been the 
principles of those patriots and puritans, who 
were the authors and promoters of those con- 
vulsions. 

If any ways or means could have been adopted 
in time to restore a mutual confidence between 
the king and the parliament, the remaining 
differences in the church might easily have been 
reconciled and accommodated. But as the 
flames of the civil war spread wider and grew 
fiercer, the wounds of [the church were also 
aggravated and enlarged. And when the par- 
liament called in the Scots to their assistance, 
and the solemn league and covenant was sub- 
scribed, these wounds became incurable. The 
state of the controversy was then entirely changed, 
and the mask was stript off. The puritans no 
longer sought for a reformation of the hierarchy, 
and for liberty of conscience, but for the same 
spiritual power which had been exercised by 
the bishops, and to introduce the presbyterian 
government in its full extent, as the established 
religion of England. To this purpose a bill was 
passed by the Commons, for the utter abolition 



ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES. 



309 



and extirpation of episcopacy. And it was 
determined by them, that no overtures for peace 
should be made to the king till this bill was 
passed in the house of lords, where it would 
never otherwise have been submitted to. 

From the year 1642 till the end of the civil 
w ar, the established form of government in the 
church was interrupted. So the ancient hier- 
archy of England was suspended, and lay pros- 
trate for about eighteen vears : but it was never 
legally dissolved, for the king would not, and did 
not give his royal assent. 

The parliament now having usurped the 
sovereignty, by still requiring new concessions, 
and a further abridgment of the regal power, 
prevented the king from all possibility of an 
accommodation. Besides the nineteen propo- 
sitions already mentioned, they requested the 
king in express terms to abolish episcopacy 
entirely, and that all ecclesiastical disputes should 
be decided by an assembly of divines : but the 
king would not, by any means, assent to such 
measures. The parliament therefore passed an 
ordinance in June, 1643, "for the calling an 
assembly of learned and godly divines, and others, 
to settle the government and liturgy of the church 
of England, &c." 

Before this assembly met, the king issued a 
proclamation to forbid their meeting, declaring 



310 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



that no acts done by them ought to be received 
by his subjects, and threatening to proceed 
against them with the utmost severity of the law. 
Sixty-nine, however, out of one hundred and 
twenty, of which the assembly was to consist, 
assembled on the day appointed, July 1, 1643, 
in King Henry Vllths chapel, according to 
their summons. Few of the episcopal divines 
appeared, and those who did, withdrew in disgust. 
Lord Clarendon says, that out of the one hundred 
and twenty, there were not above twenty who 
were not declared and avowed enemies to the 
doctrine and discipline of the Church of England; 
some of them infamous in their lives and conver- 
sations, and most of them of very mean parts 
in learning, if not of scandalous ignorance, and 
of no other reputation than of malice to the 
church of England." # Perhaps the noble his- 
torian is rather too severe here; as certainly 
many of the divines of that assembly were 
men of exemplary piety and devotion, who had 
a zeal for the glory of God, and the purity 
of the christian faith and practice, f All the 
episcopal divines soon left this assembly: some 
disdained to sit at all with them, as Dr. Brown- 
rigge, bishop of Exeter, Dr. Westfield, bishop 



* Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i, p. 530. 
t See a full list of the members of this Assembly, in Neal's 
Hist, of the Puritans, rol. iii, p. 50, 51. 



SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT. 311 



of Bristol, Dr. Hacket, Dr. Morley, Dr. Saun- 
derson, Dr. Hammond, Dr. Holdsworth, &c. — 
Archbishop Usher condescended to appear for a 
little while in the assembly : they did justice to 
that most learned prelate in expelling him from 
the assembly for his attending the king at Oxford, 
and refusing to return ; by so doing they honored 
him and scandalized themselves. — Dr. Featley 
continued to attend, till he was imprisoned by 
the parliament on account of his attachment to 
episcopacy, and for holding a correspondence 
with Dr. Usher. 

The parliament finding themselves unable to 
contend with the royal forces, had solicited, as 
it was before observed, the assistance of the 
Scots. But they were not disposed to form any 
alliance, except parliament would engage to 
establish the presbyterian form of government 
in the church of England. The English Com- 
missioners agreed to these terms, and accordingly 
a solemn league and covenant # was drawn up, 
agreed to by the convention of the states, and 
the general assembly of the church of Scotland ; 
and, being approved of by the Westminster 
assembly, it was sworn to, and subscribed by 
both houses of parliament, and by the assembly, 



* See this Covenant at large in Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, 
vol. iii, pp. 66-70, and the mode of taking it. 



312 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



with great solemnity, Monday, Sept. 25, 1643, in 
the church of St. Margaret's, Westminster.* 

This " solemn league and covenant/' besides 
mutual defence against all opponents, bound the 
subscribers to endeavour the extirpation of popery 
and prelacy, superstition, heresy, schism, and 
profaneness — to maintain the rights and privi- 
leges of parliament, together with the kings 
authority — and to discover and bring to justice all 
incendiaries and malignants. 

It was ordered to be taken by all persons above 
eighteen years of age; and the assembly were com- 
manded to draw up an exhortation to persuade 
the people to it.f Orders also were issued by 
the Commons to disperse the covenant through- 
out the whole kingdom ; and the names of those 
who refused it, were to be returned to the house. 

As this covenant contained obligations upon 
conscience, which honest persons might scruple 
as contrary to the laws, so the imposing of it as 
a test was very oppressive : — it was truly a great 



* Dr. Walker describes the proceedings at taking this cove- 
nant thus— "Two or three divines successively "went up" 
into the pulpit to pray: others to make orations upon the work 
of the day, where they uttered such extravagant things in com- 
mendation of the covenant, as cannot easily be imagined ; Mr. 
Henderson concluding the solemnity with as extravagant com- 
mendations of what they had uone." 

Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 34. 

t See the Exhortation in Neat's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. hi, 
p. 71. 



DISSOLUTION OF THE HIERARCHY. 313 

abuse of that sovereign power, which so was much 
complained of in the king. 

His Majesty issued a proclamation to forbid 
the taking of this covenant, but it was of no 
effect. However, many and heavy complaints 
were made of the grievances and oppression 
which this test inflicted upon the clergy through- 
out the kingdom. It proved a weapon in the 
hands of the Commons, enabling them with more 
ease and certainty to discover malignant or dis- 
affected ministers — the modest appellation given 
now to all the episcopal and loyal clergy. When 
this covenant was tendered, and any of the clergy 
refused it, they were upon this turned out of their 
livings. 

From the time of taking this covenant, we may 
date the dissolution of the hierarchy ; though as 
yet it was not abolished by an ordinance of 
parliament. There were now no ecclesiastical 
courts, no visitations, no regard to the canons, 
ceremonies, nor even to the liturgy itself. 

The assembly of divines now did all the 
business of the church : the parishes chose their 
own ministers, the assembly examined and ap- 
proved them, and the parliament confirmed them 
in their livings. But in order to secure a suc- 
cession of ministers trained up in the principles 
which the parliament had adopted, the earl of 



314 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Manchester * was ordered to purify the university 
of Cambridge, the head quarters of the forces 
under his command. Accordingly, the earl 
requested the attendance of the masters, fellows, 
and scholars, on a certain day, and the covenant 
was tendered to all, who were suspected of 
disaffection to the parliament, that is, to all those 
who had any regard to the ancient constitution 
in church and state. A great number of graduates 
were despoiled of their livelihood, and banished 
the university, merely for refusing the solemn 
league and covenant. 

It is difficult to compute the number of clergy- 
men who suffered severely, and lost their livings 
by order of parliament during the civil war. But 
whether more or fewer suffered, the arbitrary 
power was the same ; and the not executing it, 
might be for want of opportunity, in many 
instances, or because they could not. According 
to the best computation, the number of suffering 
clergy could not be less than two thousand, 
whom the parliament ejected out of their livings, 
for their obedience to the laws and constitution of 
their country. A fifth part of the revenues of these 
ejected clergy was reserved for the maintenance 



* The Earl of Manchester, in the life-time of his father, was 
styled Lord Kimbolton, and was one of the members impeached 
by the king. 



SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY. 



315 



of their families, which, in such calamitous and 
tumultuous time, was a charitable act; but it 
does not appear that due and proper attention 
was observed that such destitute families should 
be paid this pittance of fifths. 

It is truly deplorable that many pious, worthy, 
and learned bishops and clergymen, who with- 
drew from the world, and were desirous to live 
peaceably, suffered dreadfully in these times — 
their estates and livings were sequestered, their 
houses and goods ransacked and plundered by 
disorderly soldiers, and they themselves and 
families reduced to live upon the fifths, or a small 
pension from parliament, because they continued 
firm in their attachment to the constitution of 
church and state, and would not take the covenant^ 
or sanction the new directory # for public wor- 
ship, which was introduced after abolishing our 
venerable liturgy. Among these sufferers, the 
most reverend Archbishop Usher, Bishop Morton, 
Bishop Hall, and many others, may be reckoned 
as some of the chief. To take away the whole 
property of these divines, only for obedience to 
the laws of their country, and reduce them to a 
fifth, and even this at the mercy of sequestrators, 
was extremely rigorous, cruel, and oppressive. f 



* See the New Directory, in Neat's Hist, of the Puritans, 
vol. v, p. 52, Appendix. 

t See Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iii, p. 37. 



316 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



A great and barbarous devastation was now 
made of all the decorations, ornaments, and 
painted windows in cathedrals and churches. 
The monuments of the dead were violated and 
mutilated, the organs were taken down and de- 
molished, and the truly venerable remains of 
antiquity were damaged and destroyed. In 
short, every outrage which ignorance, fanatic rage, 
and enthusiasm could inspire, was committed on 
the churches. — The account of the reformation 
of Norwich cathedral by these Goths and Vandals, 
as given us by Bishop Hall in his Hard Measure, 
is a fair specimen of the rude violence and 
indiscriminate devastations committed on other 
cathedrals and churches: it gives us the character 
of these Gothic reformers, and shews us the 
spirit by which they were actuated.* 

Though the majority of the commons had at 
first agreed to reduce episcopacy to the standard 
of the first or second century, yet they had not 
determined to lay aside the name and function of a 
bishop, and to establish a presbyterian government, 
till application was made to the Scots for assistance 
against the king. As it was highly probable that 
the major part had no intention at first to extir- 
pate episcopacy, so there can be no doubt but 



* Dr. Grey, in his Examination of Neal, gives several instances 
of those barbarities committed on the cathedrals and churches. 



ORIGIN OF SECTS. 



317 



that some few puritanical members fully intended 
it, though they industriously concealed their 
intention till an opportunity of carrying their 
design into execution should offer itself. 

Parliament was convinced that the war against 
the king could not be successfully carried on 
without the aid of the Scots : therefore, in order 
to obtain this aid, they complied to receive the 
presbyterian form of church government, and the 
assembly of divines were ordered to agree upon 
such a form of discipline as would preserve an 
union with the kirk. 

The puritaus had now the direction of every 
thing in the church, and actually had demolished 
the hierarchy before they had agreed what sort of 
building to erect in its room. When therefore the 
ancient order of worship and discipline observed 
in the Anglican church was extirpated, the several 
parties or sects among the puritans, which had 
laid before concealed under that general name, 
began to shew themselves ; and each of them 
claimed a share in laying the foundation stone of 
the new model. Many of the puritan divines were 
rigid Calvinists, and in their sermons and writings 
inculcated those dogmas by which they eventually 
opened a wide door for licentiousness and anti- 
nomianism ; so that many took upon them to 
justify the hidden works of darkness and dis- 
honesty. The political principles of many of 



318 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



these men were not less absurd, nor less destruc- 
tive of order and good government, than those 
they were actuated by in religion. 

From the time it was agreed that the presby- 
terian model should be adopted, the name of 
puritans is to be sunk ; and they were afterwards 
distinguished under the denomination of Presby- 
terians, Erastians, and Independents, who all had 
their own different views. 

The Presbyterians had taken their plan from 
Scotland, and advanced it into jus divinum, or 
a divine institution, derived expressly from Christ 
and his apostles; bat this met with as much 
opposition from the other sectaries as episcopacy 
itself. 

The Erastians believed church government to 
be a creature of the state, would not admit the 
pastoral office to be anything more than persua- 
sive; and denied any spiritual jurisdiction or 
coercive power over the conscience, or that 
any one form of church government was pre- 
scribed in scripture as a rule for future ages. For 
this opinion they had the authority of several of 
our first reformers. # 



* Cranmer, Redmayne, Cox, &c. The eminently-learned Dr. 
Lightfoot was a principal advocate of this scheme in the Assem- 
bly of Divines. — Erastians were so called from Erastus, a 
German physician and divine of the 16th century. 



INDEPENDENTS. 



319 



The Independents formed another party. The 
principles upon which they founded their church 
government, were confined to scripture precedent, 
without any regard to ancient practice, or modern 
innovations ; they did not tie themselves to any 
resolutions, without room for alteration upon any 
further views and enquiry. On these principles 
they built a system, " that every particular con- 
gregation of christians has an entire and complete 
jurisdiction over its members, to be exercised by 
the elders thereof within itself. They did not, 
however, claim such an entire independency as 
that an offending church is not to submit to an 
open examination by other neighbouring churches: 
they practised no church censures but admo- 
nition; and upon obstinate offenders, excommu- 
nication. They professed an agreement in doc- 
trine with the articles of the church of England ; 
and their officers or rulers in the church were 
pastors, teachers, and elders with deacons. 
Though they did not approve of a prescribed 
form of worship, yet they thought public prayers 
should be framed by the meditation and study 
of their ministers; and they offered up public 
prayers for kings and all that were in authority, 
read the scriptures in their assemblies, adminis- 
tered the sacraments, sung psalms, and made a 
collection for the poor every Sunday. It has 
been thought proper here to give this particular 



320 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



account of this sect, as most of our historians did 
not understand their religious nor political princi- 
ples, and so have confounded them with the 
Anabaptists, who about this time appeared in 
England, who were republican in their political 
principles, and despised learning and ordination 
in their teachers. * 

It was certainly a grand mistake of these 
reformers to destroy one building before they had 
agreed upon another. But so it was that the 
ancient and venerable order of worship and dis- 
cipline in the church of England was set aside 
above a year before any other form was appointed. 
During this inter-regnum in the church, sects, 
parties, and heresies sprung up like mushrooms, 
which grew so luxuriant and strong, that after- 
wards it was not possible to destroy them. Such 
an oversight in persons, who pretended to possess 
so much light, and to have so pious a care of the 
church, is rather to be wondered at. When all 
the bounds of order in church and state were 
thrown down ; when the hedges of God's vineyard 
were broken down, the natural consequence was, 
that the wild boar of the forest should root it up. 
Every man now, as he was prompted by the 
warmth of his temper, excited by emulation or 



* Neat's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iii, pp. 130-135, War- 
ners' Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp.562, 563. 



FANATICISM. 



321 



vanity, or supported by hypocrisy, endeavoured 
to distinguish himself beyond his fellows, and 
to arrive at a superior pitch of fanaticism ; the 
soldier, the merchant, the mechanic, indulging 
the fervour of an holy zeal, and guided by the 
influence of the Spirit, as he pretended, gave him- 
self up to an inward and superior direction, and 
was, in a manner, consecrated by an immediate 
intercourse with heaven.* Bishop Hall, about 
two years before this time, when a prisoner in the 
Tower, accounted it no small benefit that he was 
then placed, where, says he, " I hear no invectives, 
no false doctrines, no sermocinations of ironmon- 
gers, feltmakers, cobblers, broom men, grooms, 
or any other of those inspired ignorants.f And 
in his sermon intitled " The Mourner in Sion" 
he gives a description of the deplorable state of 
religion and morality during those years of con- 
fusion; " one beats the keys into the sword, or 
hangs them at the magistrate's girdle; so as 
he suspends religion upon the mere will and 
pleasure of sovereignty. One allows plurality 
or community of wives : another allows a man to 
divorce that wife he hath, upon slight occasions, 
and to take another. One is a hunter, another 
is a seeker, a third is a shaker. One dares 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 564. 
t Bishop Hall's Works, vol. vii, p. 518. 

Y 



322 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



question, yea, disparages the sacred scriptures 
of God; another denies the soul's immortality; 
a third, the body's resurrection. One spits his 
poison upon the blessed Trinity; another blas- 
phemes the Lord Jesus, and opposes the eternity 
of his Godhead. One is altogether for inspira- 
tions, professing himself above the sphere of all 
ordinances, yea, above the blood of Christ him- 
self. Another teaches, that the more villany he 
can commit, the more holy he is ; that only confi- 
dence in sinning is perfection of sanctity ; that 
there is no hell but remorse. To put an end to 
this list of blasphemies, the very mention whereof 
is enough to distemper my tongue and your ears; 
one miscreant dares give himself out for God 
Almighty; another, for the Holy Ghost; another, 
for the Lord Christ ; another, (a vile adulterous 
strumpet) for the Virgin Mary." * 

The assembly of divines having given their 
advice to the parliament relative to providing a 
succession of ministers, an ordinance for that 
purpose was therefore passed, October, 1644. 
Ten members of the assembly, and thirteen pres- 
byters of the city of London, were appointed to 
examine, and ordain by imposition of hands, all 
candidates thought qualified to be admitted into 
the ministry. 



* Works, vol. v, p. 566. 



THE DIRECTORY. 



323 



The assembly proceeded in the next place 
about a form of public worship. The liturgy 
being abolished about a year before, at length, in 
January, 1644—5, a Directory for public worship 
was published, sanctioned by an ordinance of 
parliament. This ordinance repealed the acts of 
King Edward VI, and Queen Elizabeth, by which 
the liturgy had been established, and prohibited 
the use of it in every church or chapel in England 
and Wales. So the Directory continued till the 
restoration of Charles II, when our scriptural 
liturgy was restored, the ordinance for its aboli- 
tion having never obtained the royal assent. 

It was a considerable time before this great 
revolution in the form of public worship took 
place over the kingdom. In some places the 
churchwardens could not or would not procure a 
Directory: in others they despised it and con- 
tinued the liturgy. Some would read no form ; 
and others would use one of their own. In order 
to establish the Directory, the parliament called 
in all the Common Prayer Books, and imposed a 
fine upon such ministers as should read any other 
form than that contained in the Directory. The 
use of the liturgy in any private place or family 
was also prohibited, under the penalty of £5. for 
the first offence, £10. for the second, and for the 
third, a year's imprisonment. Such ministers as 
would not observe the Directory, were to forfeit 

Y 2 



324 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



forty shillings ; and those who wrote, preached, 
or printed any thing in derogation of it, were to 
forfeit not less than £5. and not more than £50. 
to the use of the poor. 

These were the primary acts of presbyteria?i uni- 
formity, equal to any severities or oppressions com- 
plained of under the government of Charles I. and 
of his royal predecessor: for, if the parliament had 
a right to abrogate the use of the liturgy in churches 
and chapels, which most certainly they had not, 
where was the liberty of conscience, which they 
made so much noise about, when they prohibited 
the liturgy to closets and private families ? When 
the presbyterians were going on to press the use 
of the Directory over the kingdom, his Majesty 
published a proclamation, requiring the Book of 
Common Prayer to be observed and used in all 
churches and chapels, and that the Directory 
should not be admitted or observed. His Majesty 
also issued warrants, under his own hand, to the 
heads of the university of Oxford, commanding 
them to read divine service as usual, and assuring 
the peers then at Oxford, ' that he was still 
determined to live and die for the privileges of 
his crown, for his friends, and for church govern- 
ment." * 

Here it may be proper to give a brief account of 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp.564, 565. 



DEATH OF LAUD. 



325 



the sad catastrophe of Archbishop Laud, who 
had been imprisoned in the Tower nearly four 
years, on an impeachment of high treason. The 
trial of this famous prelate was pending five 
months, upon the general charge that he endea- 
voured to subvert the constitution, the protestant 
religion, and the rights of parliament. His Grace 
defended himself undauntedly and fully for above 
twenty days with much art, vivacity, oratory, and 
firmness; and, considering the animosity and 
malignancy of his adversaries, with much more 
patience and discretion than could have been 
expected from a man of his warm and imperious 
temper. The lords acquitted him of high treason, 
and so deferred giving judgment. The commons 
upon this, had recourse to their old expedient of 
procuring petitions from the city of London, pray- 
ing for speedy justice ; in other words, menacing 
and terrifying the two houses into their measures. 
But lest this should not prevail, the commons 
changed their attack into a bill of attainder, 
against which Dr. Laud spoke at their bar for 
several hours. The lords consented to this bill, 
though his Grace produced a pardon from his 
Majesty under the great seal. They pretended 
that the king could not pardon a judgment of 
parliament, when the nation was in a state of war. 
The commons with difficulty were prevailed upon 
that the sentence of hanging should be changed 



326 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



into beheading ; which circumstance, as the pri- 
soner was a bishop, a privy counsellor, and the 
first peer of the realm, shews the rancour and 
inveteracy with which he was persecuted even to 
death. His Grace was beheaded on Tower-hill, 
Jan. 10, 1644-5. 

Our historians in general speak of this famous 
person with great partiality, either in his favour or 
dispraise. He was certainly neither the saint 
which some have described him, nor the devil 
which others have painted him. With openness 
and sincerity there was joined an ungovernable 
heat and impetuosity of temper, which often drove 
him off his guard, and betrayed him into indiscre- 
tions, which afforded a handle against him. As 
he possessed such a natural temper, it was a mis- 
fortune to him to be placed in the high rank of a 
Metropolitan and Prime Minister. On account 
of his high principles in church and state, he was 
no friend to the constitution of his country, and 
so he made many to be his implacable enemies. 
Though his Grace was a learned man, yet he was 
more a man of business than of letters. Lord 
Clarendon allows that he retained too keen a 
memory of those who had ill used him ; and that 
there was something very boisterous and turbulent 
in his disposition.* Let his adversaries say what 



* History of the Rebellion, vol. i, p. 91. 



CHARACTER OF LAUD. 



327 



they will, he was undoubtedly a sincere and firm 
protestant, and had no inclination to become a 
papist. However, if he was the person to 
whom Bishop Hall addressed the fifth Epistle of 
the third Decade, (Works, vol. vii, p. 184.) his 
religious notions seem to have been once very 
unsettled. As his high and immoderate zeal for 
the church of England made him a great enemy 
to all the sectaries, so in order to remove himself 
as far as he could from these, he countenanced 
and introduced some ceremonies, which too much 
resembled those in the church of Rome ; and 
which he pressed with as much vigour as if they 
were essentials of religion. This was his very 
great foible. From his diary he seems also to 
have been in some respects very superstitious. 
His virtue consisted perhaps more in the severity 
of his manners, and an abstinence from pleasure, 
than in any real affections of benevolence or a 
true goodness of heart. Nothing could equal his 
resolution, but his zeal for the king and the 
hierarchy: and in obeying the impulse of that 
zeal, he trusted entirely to his good intentions, 
without any regard to prudence or politeness; 
that is, he took no care to make these intentions, 
appear in their best colours, nor paid any defer- 
ence to the sentiments of those around him, but 
rested satisfied in his own integrity. He was 
extremely impatient of contradiction, even in the 



328 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



council ; nor could he debate any momentous 
argument with the patience and temper becoming 
his character. He was a great benefactor to St. 
John's college, Oxon. where he was educated : 
he enriched it with a variety of valuable MSS. in 
Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldaic, ^Egyptian, ^Ethiopian, 
Armenian, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Greek, 
Latin, Italian, French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, 
Saxon, English, Irish. These MSS. were pur- 
chased at a prodigious expence. He gave, besides, 
£500. in money to his college. He founded an 
Arabic Lecture in the university of Oxford; 
settled the impropriation of Cuddesden on the 
see of Oxford ; annexed commendams to several 
other bishoprics ; obtained the advowson of the 
living of St. Laurence in Reading, for St. John's 
college, Oxon. ; procured a charter for Reading, 
his native place, and founded and endowed an 
hospital in that town with £200. a year. Oxford 
also owed to his influence a large charter, con- 
firming its ancient, and investing it with new privi- 
leges. He expended large sums in the repairs 
and rebuilding of St. Paul's cathedral, and left 
several other legacies. It is but justice to his 
memory to record these acts of munificence and 
public utility. But with all his virtues and accom- 
plishments which his most partial friends have 
attributed to him, it must be allowed that he was 
very unfit for either of the stations which he filled 



UXBRIDGE TREATY. 



329 



in church and state, especially in such turbulent 
times, and under such a monarch as Charles I.* 

About the latter end of January, 1644-5, a 
treaty of peace between the king and parliament 
was entered upon at XJxbridge by commissioners. 
The parliament commissioners proposed, with 
respect to religion, ' ' that a bill should be passed 
for abolishing episcopacy — for confirming the 
ordinance for calling the assembly of divines 
— that the Directory and the presbyterian govern- 
ment be confirmed — that his Majesty shall take 
the solemn league and covenant — and that an act 
should be passed to enjoin it to be taken by all 
subjects in the three kingdoms."! After many 
disputes and much time spent, his Majesty's com- 
missioners consented to these particulars — " that 
the penal laws enjoining ceremonies shall be 
suspended, and every body left to their own 
freedom — that the bishops shall exercise no act 
of jurisdiction or ordination, without the consent 
of a council of presbyters, to be chosen out of the 
diocese— that the bishop shall constantly reside 
in his diocese, except when required to attend his 
Majesty on any occasion, and if not hindered by 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp. 565-567». 
Goadby's Brit. Biog. vol. iv, p. 289. 

t Dugdale'sVievv of the Troubles in England, p. 766. 



330 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



sickness, preach every Sunday— that great care 
shall be taken in conferring holy orders : about 
the sufficiency and other qualifications of the 
candidates — that a competent maintenance shall 
be provided by act of parliament for vicarages 
belonging to bishops, deans and chapters, out of 
the impropriations— that no man for the future 
shall have two benefices with cure of souls — that 
an hundred thousand pounds shall be raised out 
of the lands belonging to bishops, deans, and 
chapters, towards settling the public peace — and 
that visitations, fees of ecclesiastical courts, and 
abuses in spiritual jurisdiction, shall be regulated 
by parliament." But these great concessions at 
this time from his Majesty made no impression ; 
and the parliament commissioners having no 
liberty to relax a tittle from their demands, the 
treaty came to nothing. 

Before the parliament and the assembly of 
divines had made up their minds about adopting 
the presbyterian mode of church government, 
Bishop Hall tendered "a Modest Offer of some 
Considerations to the Learned Prolocutor, and to 
the rest of the Assembly of Divines met at West- 
minster" * in which the good bishop shewed him- 



* Dr.William Twisse, vicar of Newbery, was then the Prolo- 
cutor — He died July 20,1646. He was allowed to be a person 
of extensive knowledge, modest, humble, and religious. 



PRESBYTERIAN ISM. 



331 



self still a champion in advocating episcopacy, 
and strongly recommended them seriously to 
consider the advantages, expediency, antiquity, 
and universality of episcopacy, its ancient estab- 
lishment in this country, its incorporating and 
enwovening itself into the very municipal laws of 
the land, and the difficulty of utterly removing it 
without a total change in the whole body of out- 
laws. The bishop also very ably pointed out the 
intrinsic value of episcopal government. This 
tract is dated Sept. 12, 1644, and signed Philale- 
tlrirenceus, or, A Lover of Truth and Peace. # 

It does not appear that this excellent treatise 
of Bishop Hall made any successful impression 
upon the assembly; for, when the presbyterian 
government was judged to be jus divinum, there 
could afterwards be no chance for episcopacy to 
be retained. 

The directory was no sooner established after 
abolishing the liturgy, and the presbyterian form 
of church government adopted in the room of 
episcopacy, than the presbyterians and indepen- 
dents, who agreed in the subversion of the church, 
differed and quarrelled about the divine institution 
of presbyterianism. The independents being joined 
by the Erastians in this dispute, and having the 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. h, p. 773. 



332 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



army on their side, compelled the presbyterians 
to give way in the point of coercive power, which 
they had hitherto grasped at with all their might. 

If the leading presbyterian divines had come to 
an accommodation with the independents about a 
limited toleration, they would probably have pre- 
vented the disputes between the parliament and 
the army, which at length proved the ruin of 
both. 

After the battle of Naseby, the king's affairs 
declined rapidly. His Majesty, in the beginning 
of November, 1645, returned to Oxford, when his 
adherents gave him some hopes that peace might 
be obtained, provided he would consent to the 
abolition of episcopacy, and make some other 
concessions. Though his Majesty then was will- 
ing to yield to the emergency of things, yet he 
could not be prevailed upon to give up the 
church. The circumstances of his Majesty being 
now reduced to such extremities, he thought 
proper to deliver himself up, May 5, J 646, to the 
hands of the Scots, then besieging Newark. 
His Majesty probably expected that the Scots 
would have joined with him, and employed their 
forces to obtain peace ; and, if his Majesty would 
have submitted to embrace presbyterianism, and 
taken the covenant, they would have joined 
him, and acknowledged him as their sovereign. 



THE KING SUPPORTS EPISCOPACY. 333 



When his Majesty was entreated to establish 
presbyterianism in both kingdoms, and to take 
the covenant, he declared that, though he was 
willing the Scots should enjoy their own disci- 
pline, he was obliged by conscience and in honour 
to support episcopacy in England, because it had 
been established from the reformation ; and that 
he was bound by his coronation oath to uphold 
it. In order to endeavour to make his Majesty a 
convert to presbyterianism, the Scots employed 
The Rev. Alex. Henderson of Edinburgh, to enter 
into a debate with the king respecting these points. 
The debate was carried on in writing; and it is 
said that the king was much too hard for his 
opponent in argument, so that he soon afterwards 
died of grief, and heart broken.* Bishop Burnet 
speaking of the king's superiority in this contro- 
versy, says, " Had his Majesty's arms been as 
strong as his reason was, he had been every way 
unconquerable, since none have the disingenuity 
to deny the great advantage his Majesty had in 
all these writings ; and this was when the help of 
his chaplains could not be suspected, they being 
far from him ; and that the king drew with his 
own hand all his papers without the help of any, 



* Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. v, p. 31. 



334 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



is averred by the person who alone was privy 
to the interchanging of them — that worthy and 
accomplished gentleman, Robert Murray." * 

His Majesty proposed to admit the establish- 
ment of episcopacy and presbyterianism, in order 
to destroy the influence of the independents and 
the other sectaries. He declared that he would 
be content to restrain episcopal government to 
the dioceses of Oxford, Winchester, Bath and 
Wells, and Exeter, leaving all the rest of England 
to the presbyterian discipline : f but the Scots 
would abate nothing with regard to religion, and 
so they shortly afterwards placed his Majesty in 
the hands of the parliament. The king being now 
the prisoner of the presbyterians, as they had a 
majority in the house of commons, they might 
have made their own terms with his Majesty ; but 
they were still so enchanted with the " beauties 
of covenant uniformity, and the divine right of 
their presbytery* which ultimately the parliament 
would not allow in its full extent. His Majesty 
very sagaciously endeavoured to take advantage 
of the divisions between the presbyterian and 
independent parties, by favouring the latter, and 



* Bishop Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, 
p. 277, fol. ed. 1677. 

f Duke of Hamilton's Memoirs, pp. 286, 287. Rushvvorth, 
p. 328. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF PRESBYTERIAN ISM. 335 



promising some of them valuable compensations for 
any services they should do him; and intimating 
to them that it was not possible for them to obtain 
relief in their scruples, from those who were per- 
suaded they were erecting the kingdom of Christ. 
However, though the independents were enemies 
to the presbyterian discipline, they would not 
trust the king. 

England was now divided, instead of so many 
dioceses, into a certain number of provinces, 
made up from the several classes within their 
boundaries. Every parish had a congregational, 
or parochial presbytery, for the affairs of the 
parish. The parochial presbyteries were combined 
into classes, and these chose representatives for 
the provincial, as the provincial did for the 
national assembly : but, though this presbyterian 
model was thus settled and erected in the room 
of episcopal government, there never was a pro- 
vincial assembly, except in London and Lanca- 
shire ; the parliament never heartily approved of 
it, and the influence and interest by which it was 
supported, soon afterwards became ineffectual* 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol, ii, pp. 568, 569. 
Dr. Walker, in his Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, pp. 36, 37, 
calls the Presbyterian discipline, " that golden idol, to which 
they had offered so many human sacrifices, of which an imper- 
fect image was raised at last, and stood (where it ought not) 



336 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



The officers of the army, Sir Thomas Fairfax, 
general, and Oliver Cromwell, lieutenant-general, 
were of the party of the independents, and dis- 
liked the presbyterian model, as more tyrannical 
than the episcopal. Having but few preachers 
or chaplains in the army, the officers undertook 
to preach and to pray publicly to the troops ; and 
even the common soldiers not only prayed and 
preached publicly among themselves, but also 
mounted the pulpits in all the churches where 
they happened to be quartered, and harangued 
the people with great fervour and zeal. This 
enthusiastic spirit diffused itself like a pestilence : 
it was caught by all ranks of men, and even the 
women " would not restrain the Spirit." " It was 
pleaded," says Neal, 4 'in excuse for this practice, 
that a gifted brother had better preach and pray 
to the people than nobody ; but now learning, 
good sense, and the rational interpretation of 
scripture, began to be cried down, and every bold 
pretender to inspiration was preferred to the 
most grave and sober divines of the age ; some 



in the place of the church." And (ibid, p. 41.) the same 
writer says, " Thus fell episcopacy, the only government of the 
christian church, from the days of the Apostles, before the 
lame and imperfect pattern of Scots Presbytery — the ark of 
God, (to increase our misery beyond that of God's church 
among the Jews, in one of its greatest calamities) before an 
headless and handless Dagon." 



STATE OF ENGLAND. 



337 



advanced themselves into the rank of prophets, 
and others uttered all such crude and undigested 
absurdities as came first into their minds, calling 
them the dictates of the Spirit within them ; by 
which the public peace was frequently disturbed, 
and great numbers of ignorant people led into the 
belief of the most dangerous errors."* 

At the close of the year 1646, both church and 
state were in the utmost disorder and confusion 
and continued so more or less till the restoration 
in 1660. Bishop Hall, feelingly lamenting the 
deplorable state of the country, thus speaks : 
" Was there ever a more fearful example of divine 
vengeance against any nation, than to be armed 
against each other to their mutual destruction ? 
that christian compatriots, brethren, should pour 
out each other's blood like w r ater in our streets, 
and leave their mangled carcases for compost in 
our fields? that none but the sharper sword 
should be left to be the arbiter of our deadly 
differences ? that fathers and sons should so put 
off all natural affection, as to think it no violation 
of piety to cut the throats of each other ? Oh ! 
that we had lived to see the woeful havoc, that the 



* Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iii, pp. 339, 340. The Rev. 
Thomas Edwards, Minister of Christ Church, London, a rigid 
presbyterian, rendered himself notorious at this time for a 
rancorous and furious book, intitled Gangrcena, 4to, in 3 parts, 
against the Sectaries of this period. 

Z 



338 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



hellish fury of war hath made, every where, in this 
flourishing and populous island ; the flames of 
hostile fury rising up in our towns and cities; the 
devastation of our fruitful and pleasant villages ; 
the demolition of our magnificent structures ; the 
spoils and ruins of those fabrics that should be 
sacred ; in a word, this goodly land, for a great 
part of it, turned to a very Golgotha and Acel- 
dema!"* 

The parliament, after the Scots consented to 
deliver up the king, appointed commissioners to 
convey his Majesty to Holmby-house in North- 
amptonshire, Feb. 1646-7. He was treated 
with some respect, but his trusty servants were 
not allowed to attend him ; and it was not even 
permitted to him to have any of his own chaplains 
to assist him in his devotions, though he earnestly 
desired to have any two out of thirteen, which he 
nominated, to attend him. This was refused 
him ; and two presbyterian ministers were ordered 
to officiate in the chapel ; but his Majesty never 
gave his attendance, and so was compelled to be 
his own chaplain, using the liturgical service of 
the church in his own chamber, f 



* Works, vol. v, p. 563. 

f Clarendon, vol. iii, p. 39. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, 
vol. iii, p. 335. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The army had hitherto acted in subordination 
to the parliament ; but now, the war being over, 
and the king a prisoner, they were unwilling to be 
entirely at the disposal of the parliament, and to 
submit to presbyterian uniformity. The army 
consisted chiefly of independents, few presbyte- 
rians, anabaptists, and men of unsettled religious 
principles. They however consented that presby- 
terianism should be the established religion, but 
insisted on a toleration of all sects and parties. 
The disposition of the presbyterians was to perse- 
cute and harass every sect with as much severity 
and bitterness as they did the church. The 
presbyterians thought that through their superior 
influence in both houses, they should be able to 
get the better of the army : they came therefore 
to a resolution of seizing the person of Cromwell, 
whose dissimulation and hypocrisy were now 
evident; but he, having notice of their design the 
night before, made his escape to the army. At 



340 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



the same time, the army, by the advice and 
direction of Cromwell, took the king by force 
from the custody of the parliament at Holmby- 
house, and conveyed him to the head quarters 
at Newmarket. His Majesty now met with 
some kind treatment and respect. Many of his 
friends had free access to him; and four of his 
chaplains, viz. Dr. Sheldon, Dr. Morley, Dr. 
Saunderson, and Dr. Hammond, were permitted 
to attend him. 

The king being now in the possession of the 
army, they therefore began to be more contuma- 
cious with the parliament; and Cromwell, on this 
occasion said, that "now he had got the king into 
his hands, he had the parliament in his pocket."* 
The army made liberty of conscience their great 
charter, and till they obtained it, they resolved 
not to lay down their arms : they had fought the 
battles of the parliament, and so considered it 
unreasonable to be told that except they would 
conform with the presbyterian discipline, they 
should be persecuted and punished as sectaries, 
and driven out of the land. In order to prevent 
this, they treated with the king, and offered him 
much better terms, and behaved towards him 
with much more courtesy, than he ever met with 



* Rusliworth, p t 545, 549. Neal, vol. iii, p. 369. 



ESCAPE OF THE KING. 



341 



from the parliament. But his Majesty was afraid 
to trust them. And besides, we are told that he 
had adopted a maxim, from which his best frieuds 
could not dissuade him, viz. that it was in his 
power to turn the scale, and that the party mus* 
sink which he abandoned. This, together with 
some insincerity, which he practised towards 
Cromwell and Ire ton, who themselves were not 
sincere in their treaty with him, proved the ruin of 
Charles I. and which, it is said, he repented of 
when too late.* 

His Majesty, thinking that some design was 
intended to murder him, escaped from the army? 
intending to cross the sea, but was secured in 
Carisbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight. The 
public tranquillity was now in a very precarious 
situation, as there was a general distrust and 
suspicion on all sides, and every party resolved to 
carry their point without any abatement. The king 
continued resolute in adhering to the constitution 
of church and state. The Scots and English 
presbyterians, though divided in some political 
points, thought themselves bound to stand by the 
solemn league and covenant; and the army was 
under an engagement to agree with neither without 
a toleration. If his Majesty would have submitted 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, p. 570. NeaFs Hist, 
of the Puritans, vol. iii, p. 379. 



342 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



to covenant uniformity, the presbyterians might 
have restored him : or, if the king or parliament 
would have declared for a toleration, peace might 
have been restored by military force. But so 
it was, that such terms of accommodation as could 
reconcile such opposite and clashing interests, 
could not now be contrived at this time. 

When the king was with the army in some state 
of honor, want and misery obliged many thou- 
sands of the parochial clergy to present a petition 
to his Majesty, July 17, 1647, stating " that 
whereas they had a long time been destitute of all 
livelihood, by means of sequestration of their 
estates, and other losses, and " then" driven to 
extreme necessities, how to provide for themselves 
and their families; and the season, " then" 
approaching for the receiving the benefits of the 
harvest, before which time, if some charitable 
course be not taken, they were like to starve or 
beg another year, " and therefore praying his 
Majesty to take their sad condition into his gra- 
cious consideration and care, that some speedy 
course might be taken to preserve them alive," 
&c. 

To this petition the king returned a gracious 
answer, though he was then so circumstanced, as 
being hardly capable of doing any service to the 
suffering clergy : he however recommended their 
distressed case to the general, and told them 



DISTRESSES OF THE CLERGY. 343 

" how deeply sensible he was of their condition, 
and desired them to rest assured, that whatsoever 
was in his power for their relief, should not be 
wanting ; but for the present, all that he could do, 
was to recommend the petition to the general and 
commanders of the army." They therefore peti- 
tioned in form the general, Sir Thomas Fairfax, 
who received their petition respectfully, and pro- 
posed to the parliament that the estates of all 
sequestered persons, including the clergy, should 
remain in the hands of the tenants till a general 
peace. Upon which some of the clergy made 
attempts to recover their benefices, and dispos- 
sess the intruders. But this turned out to their 
disadvantage, and caused them new troubles. At 
that juncture, when the army and the parliament 
had been for some time at variance, the distressed 
clergy had some hopes of redress: but when the 
differences were now nearly compromised, all 
their expectations were entirely cut off. 

Aug. 12, 1647, the presbyterian ministers peti- 
tioned the general, complaining " that divers 
delinquent ministers, who had been put out of their 
livings, did now trouble, and seek to turn out 
those ministers, whom the parliament had put in, 
&c." Sir Thomas Fairfax and the parliament 
disapproved of these proceedings ; and an ordi- 
nance was passed that those deli7iquent ministers 
and others, who would trouble or molest the 



344 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



ministers put into livings by the parliament, should 
be punished."* 

When the university of Oxford fell into the 
hands of the parliament, they ordered a visitation 
of it, in order to make the colleges to take the 
covenant, so as to reduce them to obedience. But 
the university, which had continued firm in its 
loyalty to the king, passed a public act and decla- 
ration against the covenant, and refused to submit 
to the authority of the visitors, till they were sub- 
dued and compelled by a military force, f 

The parliament, having been strengthened by 
the return of some presbyterian members, who 
either had absconded, or deserted their stations, 
when the army was in the neighbourhood, now 
resumed their courage. Though the independents 
had persisted in requiring an unlimited toleration, 
the presbyterians at this time took an opportunity 
of discovering their principles, by passing a most 
cruel ordinance against sects and heretics. It 
was ordained that all persons, who should main- 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, pp. 145, 146. 
Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iii, pp.392, 393. 

t See a full and particular account of the visitation of the 
University of Oxford by the Parliament, in Clarendon's Hist, of 
the Rebellion, vol. iii, b. x, p. 73, &c. Walker's Sufferings of 
the Clergy, part i, pp. 122— 144. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans > 
vol. iii, pp. 395 -438 See in the appendix to this vol. Rustica 
Academic Oxoniensis nuper reformats descriptio, by Dr. Alibone, 
a very curious satyrical piece. 



OVERTURES OF THE KING. 



345 



tain, publish, or defend, by preaching or writing, 
the heresies which were after mentioned, with 
obstinacy, should be committed to prison without 
bail till the next gaol delivery ; and if the indict- 
ment should then be found, and the party not 
abjure, he should suffer death as a felon. This 
was intitled an ordinance against blasphemy and 
heresy, and was dated May 2, 1648. This single 
ordinance is sufficient to shew, that the presbyte- 
rians would have made a dreadful use of their 
power, if it had been supported by the sword of 
the civil magistrate. * 

The king was kept a close prisoner in Caris- 
brook Castle ; but, in consequence of a secret 
treaty with the Scots, an army was raising in that 
kingdom to join the royalists in England, in order 
to rescue the king from his confinement. This 
circumstance caused another dreadful civil war, 
and hastened the horrible catastrophe of his 
Majesty. In this calamitous state of affairs, no 
hope seemed to be left to the parliament but to 
treat with the king. Therefore a treaty was held 
with his Majesty at Newport in the Isle of Wight, 
during the months of September, October, and 
November, 1648. Before the treaty began, the 
commissioners from the parliament informed his 
Majesty, that they could not permit any other 



* Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iii, p. 458. Warner's 
Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 571. 



346 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



persons besides himself to confer with them 
respecting their demands ; and all the help he 
could obtain from the bishops and divines, who 
had been allowed to attend upon him, was, that 
they might stand behind a curtain, and upon any 
point of difficulty, his Majesty might retire to his 
chamber for their advice. * This was the unrea- 
sonable preliminary, to which the king was 
obliged to submit, before the treaty commenced : 
and afterwards he saw that the commissioners 
could not, or would not, relax any point whatever 
in what they had to propose. Wherefore, to 
shorten the negotiation, and to let the parliament 
know how far his Majesty could comply with 
their demands, he sent a message to explain his 
intentions. With regard to religion he made the 
following concessions: viz. That the assembly of 
divines at Westminster may be confirmed for 



* Neal says, that " several noblemen, gentlemen, divines, and 
lawyers, were appointed to assist him in the treaty, who were 
to stand behind his Majesty's chair and hear the debates, but 
not to speak, except when the king withdrew into another room 
for their advice ; the names of his divines were Dr. Juxon, 
bishop of London, Dr.Duppa, bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Sheldon, 
Dr. Hammond, Dr.Oldisworth, Dr. Saunderson, Dr. Turner, 
Dr. Haywood: and towards the end of the treaty Dr. Usher, 
archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Bramhall, Dr. Prideux, Dr.Warner, 
Dr. Ferne, and Dr. Morley : Dr. Brownrigge, bishop of Exeter, 
was also sent for, but he was under restraint. And Dr. Sheldon, 
Dr. Hammond, and Dr. Oldisworth, being also under restraint, 
were not permitted to stand." Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iii, 
p. 462. 



DISCUSSIONS. 



347 



three years, and the directory, and presbyterian 
government continue for the same period ; pro- 
vided that neither himself, nor his adherents, 
should be obliged to conform to it — that during 
that period, a consultation should be had with the 
assembly, and with twenty divines of his own 
nomination, to determine upon a form of govern- 
ment to be established afterwards in the church, 
with a provision for the ease of tender consciences 
— that his Majesty would consent that legal 
estates for lives, or for a term of years, not 
exceeding ninety-nine, might be made from the 
lands and revenues of bishops, for the satisfaction 
of those who have purchased them ; provided that 
the inheritance may still remain in the church, 
and the residue be reserved for their maintenance. 
These, with some other concessions of less impor- 
tance, his Majesty delivered to the commissioners 
as his final answer. In conclusion, his Majesty 
challenged the parliament divines, who were 
assistants to the commissioners, to shew, that 
either there is no form of church government 
prescribed in scripture ; or, if there be, that the 
civil power may alter it as they see cause ; or, if 
it was unchangeable, that it was not episcopal ; 
and till this was done, he should think himself 
excusable for not consenting to the abolition of 
that church government, which he found settled 
at his coronation, which is so ancient, has been so 



348 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



universally received in the christian world, con- 
firmed by so many acts of parliament, and been 
subscribed by all the clergy of the church of 
England. But the presbyterian divines did not 
think fit to enter on this debate. 

The parliament spent several days in deliberat- 
ing on the above concessions of his Majesty, 
and at last voted them unsatisfactory with regard 
to episcopacy. The king made some further 
concessions, which were not approved of. The 
time of the treaty was prolonged, and some new 
propositions made to the king. At last, there 
being but one day left to determine the fate of 
the whole kingdom, the commissioners pressed 
his Majesty to satisfy the demands of the parlia- 
ment His own council, and his divines, besought 
him to consider the safety of his person for the 
sake of the church and people ; because they 
had some hope still left, whilst his Majesty was 
preserved, that they should enjoy many blessings; 
whereas if he was destroyed, there was scarce a 
possibility to preserve them : — that, upon the 
best judgment they could make, the order, which 
his Majesty endeavoured to preserve with so 
much zeal and piety, was much more likely to be 
ruined by his not complying, than by his sus- 
pending it till a future government could be 
settled. The mind of the unhappy king was 
much distressed on account of these considera- 
tions, so that he told the commissioners, " that 



REMONSTRANCE OF THE ARMY. 349 

after the condescensions he had already made in 
the business of the church, he had expected not 
to be further pressed : it being his judgment and 
his conscience. He could not consent to abolish 
episcopacy out of the church." * 

This treaty, in the end, proved unsuccessful in 
promoting the peace of the country ; and a short 
time before its conclusion, the army had sent a 
remonstrance to the parliament to express their 
high dissatisfaction with the treaty, because no 
provision was made for liberty of conscience and 
toleration. This remonstrance of the army plainly 
discovered the intentions of the independents, to 
blow up the constitution, and to bury the king, 
episcopacy, and presbytery in its ruins. In a 
kind of despair, and under the influence of a 
religious phrenzy, the army entered upon the 
most desperate measures, resolving to take the 
sovereign power into their own hands — to 
bring the king to justice -to set aside the covenant 
— and to change the government into a common- 
wealth. In order to accomplish these horrible 
resolutions, the remonstrance was presented to 
the parliament, Nov. 20, 1648. It was accom- 
panied with many petitions from different parts 
of the kingdom, tending to the same purpose. 
The parliament, upon this, was struck with the 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol, ii, p. 572, &c. 



350 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



utmost consternation, and, though a few days 
before voted the king's concessions unsatisfactory, 
again took his answer into consideration; and 
after a violent debate for three days, it was 
carried by a majority of forty- two, that his 
Majesty's concessions were a sufficient founda- 
tion for the houses to proceed upon in the settle- 
ment of the kingdom : but it was then too late. 
The army had now secured the person of the 
king, and he was conveyed by a party of horse 
to Hurst Castle, where he continued till he was 
conducted to Windsor in order to his trial. The 
general had marched the army to London ; and 
the next day the presbyterian members were 
excluded from the house by a military force; 
and the independent members, who were admitted, 
voted the king's answer to the propositions not 
satisfactory. The question now was, what was 
next to be done? It was high time to settle 
some form of government, under which the nation 
was to live. So in order to gain popularity, they 
declared that parliament should be dissolved on 
the last day of April following : and that in the 
mean time they would bring those delinquents 
to justice, who had disturbed the peace of the 
kingdom, and put it to such an expence of blood 
and treasure. But the height of all iniquity and 
fanatical extravagance yet remained to be acted : 
it was determined to impeach the king of high 
treason, as having been the cause of all the blood 



DEATH OF THE KING. 



351 



spilt during the rebellion. The sovereign was 
tried and executed by a set of desperate officers 
of the army, and their dependents.* There was 
nothing in the common or statute law which 
could direct or warrant this iniquitous proceed- 
ing, they therefore made a new form never 
before heard of — "An high court of justice to 
try his Majesty for high treason in levying ivar 
against his parliament?' f He fell a sacrifice to 
the rage and enthusiasm of the fanatic leaders of 
the army, who, proceeding from one licentiousness 
to another, had arrived at an implacable, repub- 
lican, virulent spirit, regardless of all laws, divine 
and human. The particulars of the murder of 
King Charles I. on the 30th of Jan. 1648-9, and 
his character, need not here be related ; they are 
so fully narrated by Lord Clarendon, Dugdale, 
and other historians.^ 



* They have been described as a " swarm of armed enthu- 
siasts, who outwitted the patriots, out-prayed the puritans, 
and out-fought the cavaliers." Bishop Warburton's Sermon 
before the House of Lords, Jan. 30, 1760. 

f Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. iii, b. xi, p. 244. 

X See a very interesting character of King Charles I. in War- 
ner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp. 574—577 : but the 
excellent and pious Bishop Home, in his sermon intitled the 
christian king, has given us a very striking and interesting 
view of the character of Charles I. as a king, a christian, 
and a martyr. See Bishop Home's Works, vol. iii, p. 398. 



CHAPTER X. 



The constitution, having been so much muti- 
lated and reduced in the progress of the rebel- 
lion, at the execution of the king was totally dis- 
solved. The small remains of an house of commons 
prohibited the proclaiming of the Prince of Wales, 
or any other person whatsoever, under the pain 
of high treason, and voted the house of lords 
to be useless, and the office of a king dangerous 
to the state. The oaths of allegiance and supre- 
macy were abolished, and a new one, called the 
engagement, was appointed, by which all persons 
who held any place or office in church or state, 
were required to swear, " that they would be 
true and faithful to the government established, 
without king, or house of peers." The form of 
government for the future, was declared to be 
a free commonwealth, of which the executive 
power was to be lodged in the hands of a council 
of state of about forty persons, any nine of whom 
were to take care of the administration for one 



RUMP PARLIAMENT. 



353 



year. Such was the foundation of this new 
government, which neither had the consent of the 
nation, nor their representatives in parliament. 
The parliament, as it was, consisted only of about 
eighty members, all of them independents. And 
these few members voted the exclusion of all the 
other members, unless they took the engagement. 
A licentious, republican, and fanatic army, which 
had spread an universal terror, had got this extra- 
ordinary and excessive power to this parliament, 
which, consisting of so inconsiderable a number of 
members, obtained in derision the appellation of 
the rump parliament. # 

The Independent interest, by means of the 
army, now prevailed in and over the parliament : 
not only the loyal clergy began to suffer afresh 
" under a new set of tyrants," but even the pres- 
byterians " became fellow-sufferers, and were 
involved in one common calamity, with those 
many thousands of ruined loyalists, over whom 
they had themselves for such a long course of 
years, lorded it with so much rigour and 
cruelty." f 



* Walker, the author of the History of Independency, first 
gave them this name, in allusion to a fowl, all devoured but the 
rump. They were also compared to a man who would never 
cease to whet and whet his knife, till there was no steel left to 
make it useful. Dr. Grey and Rapin. 

t Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 146. 
A a 



354 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



It is not necessary in this work to enter fully 
into the measures which were taken for settling 
this usurped government. In such a time of 
universal confusion, the transactions which con- 
cerned then the church and state ought rather to 
be razed out of the page of history, than particu- 
larly related, lest the success of so much villany, 
dissimulation, and enthusiasm, should in after 
ages encourage the same horrible and iniquitous 
factions against the established constitution of 
church and state. 

Now every man was at liberty to profess any 
principles of religion, and to teach what he pro- 
fessed. Bishop Hall in these distracted times, 
speaking of those who cause divisions, says, "they 
have much to answer for to the God of peace and 
unity, who are so much addicted to their own 
conceits, and so indulgent to their own interest, 
as to raise and maintain new doctrines, and to set 
up new sects in the church of Christ, varying from 
the common and received truths; labouring to 
draw disciples after them, to the great distraction 
of souls, and scandal of Christianity : with which 
sort of disturbers J must needs say this age, into 
which we are fallen, hath been and is, above all 
that have gone before us, most miserably pestered : 
what good soul can be other than confounded, to 
hear of and see more than a hundred and four 
score new, and some of them dangerous and bias- 



DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH. 355 

phemous opinions, broached and defended in one, 
once famous and unanimous church of Christ? 
Who can say other, upon the view of these wild 
thoughts, than Gerson said long since, that the 
world, now grown old, is full of doting fancies ; 
if not rather, that the world, now near his end, 
raves and talks nothing but fancies and frenzies ? 
How arbitrary soever these self-willed fanatics 
may think it, to take to themselves this liberty of 
thinking what they list, and venting what they 
think, the blessed Apostle hath long since branded 
them with a heavy sentence : Now I beseech you, 
brethren, mark them which cause divisions and 
offences, contrary to the doctrine which you have 
learned, and avoid them : for they that are such, 
serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own 
belly; and by good words and fair speeches, 
deceive the hearts oj the simple. Rom. xvi, 17, 18." 
Again, our author justly lamenting the manifold 
and grievous distractions of the church of Christ 
then both in judgment and affection, says, " Woe 
is me, into how r many thousand pieces is the 
seamless coat of our Saviour rent! Yea, into 
what numberless atoms, is the precious body of 
Christ torn and minced ! There are more reli- 
gions than nations upon earth ; and in each reli- 
gion, as many different conceits, as men. If St. 
Paul, when his Corinthians did but say, / am oj 
Paul, I am of Apollos, lam of Cephas, could ask, 

A a 2 



356 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Is Christ divided? (1 Cor. i, 12, 13.) when there 
was only an emulatory magnifying of their own 
teachers, though agreeing and orthodox; what, 
think we, would he now say, if he saw a hundred 
of sect-masters and heresiarchs, some of them 
opposite to other, all to the truth, applauded by 
their credulous and divided followers, all of them 
claiming Christ for theirs, and denying him to 
their gainsayers? Would he not ask, " Is Christ 
multiplied ? Is Christ subdivided ? Is Christ 
shred into infinites ?" O God ! what is become of 
Christianity ? How do evil spirits and men labour 
to destroy that creed, which we have always 
constantly professed! For if we set up more 
Christs, where is that one ? And if we give way 
to these infinite distractions, where is the commu- 
nion of saints ?"* 

The churches and pulpits were now open to all 
sorts of people, who would wish to display their 
gifts of praying and preaching there. A general 
distraction and confusion in religion overspread 
the whole kingdom. An ingenious, elegant, and 
pious living author thus describes the state of 
religion then in England ; " During the time of 
the interregnum, the prevailing sentiments in reli- 
gion had been of a very singular, not to say of a 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. viii, pp. 241, 244. 



RELIGIOUS EXTRAVAGANCE. 357 

very extravagant nature. The doctrines of reve- 
lation were disjoined from its precepts, so that 
one half of the bible became useless, except, per- 
haps, in the hands of an unusually skilful allego- 
rizer, who had the art of extracting a speculative 
theorem from the most practical command. The 
language even of secular intercourse was modelled 
upon that of the received translation of the sacred 
volume. The most unchristian acts were described 
in the most christian terms. Men thought them- 
selves religious, if they used the language of the 
Bible, how flagrantly soever they might oppose 
its spirit. He who could give to a text the most 
fanciful twist, the most recondite allusion, was 
esteemed the ablest divine. The union of a sound 
creed with an irreligious life, of a clear insight 
into revelation with a neglect of all its duties, 
became alarmingly common ; so that hypocrisy 
and the most vulgar affectation were every where 
apparent."* 

There is nothing which can give a better idea 
of the total dissolution of all principles of order 
and moral rectitude at that time, than the act 
which was then passed against blasphemous, 
atheistical, and execrable opinions. In the pre- 
amble of this act, it appears that there were then 



* Wilks' Christian Essays, vol. i, p. 21. 



358 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



persons, who professed, that all sorts of iniquity 
were " in their own nature as holy and righteous 
as the duties of prayer, preaching, or giving thanks 
to God ; that happiness consisted in the commis- 
sion of such crimes ; and that there was really no 
such thing as heaven or hell, nor any unrighteous- 
ness or sin independent of conscience and opinion." 
Miserable and distracted indeed was the state of 
religion at this time in England ; " when the 
church was defaced and overspread with errors 
and blasphemies, defiled with abominations, rent 
in pieces with divisions, and so swallowed up in 
confusion and disorder." * 

The engagement, which might be properly called 
the Independent covenant, as it was intended to 
supersede the solemn league and covenant of the 
presbyterians, was appointed to be taken by all 
civil, ecclesiastical, and military officers whatso- 
ever, on pain of forfeiting their several offices, and 
was now referred to a committee, in order that 
the whole kingdom should take it. A bill was 
therefore passed in the beginning of the year 1650, 
to exclude from the benefit of the law, and to 
disable from sueing in any court of law or equity, 
every person of the age of eighteen and upwards, 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 579. 



THE ENGAGEMENT. 



359 



who should refuse to take and subscribe the 
engagement. The presbyterian ministers, though 
they enforced the covenant in as arbitrary a manner, 
yet when it came now to their turn to suffer, 
could perceive the iniquity of such a violence done 
to law and conscience. They inveighed bitterly 
in their sermons against the engagement, and 
refused to observe the days of humiliation 
appointed by the parliament for a blessing on 
their arms. The body of the common people 
being now weary of a civil war, and willing to 
live quiet under any government, submitted to the 
engagement. Many of the presbyterian ministers, 
however, chose rather to relinquish their prefer- 
ments in the church and universities, than comply. 

The parliament tried several methods to recon- 
cile thetn to the present administration; but when 
they found it was all in vain, an order was pub- 
lished, that ministers in the pulpits should not 
meddle with state affairs. The famous Milton 
was then appointed to write for the common- 
wealth, who severely and satirically lashed every 
party adverse to the measures of the new admi- 
nistration. An act was also passed to sequester 
from ecclesiastical preferments all, who vilified 
and aspersed in the pulpit the authority of par- 
liament. 

A declaration was also published complaining 



360 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



of the revolt of English and Scots presbyterians 
to the enemy, because the discipline of the parlia- 
ment was not the exact standard of reformation. 
The parliament did all they could to satisfy them : 
they determined that all the ordinances for the 
promoting a reformation of religion, in doctrine, 
discipline and worship, should continue in full 
force ; and that the government in the church 
should be the presbyterian. They ordered the 
lands belonging to deans and chapters to be sold : 
and the bishop's lands, which had been seques- 
tered, were vested by an ordinance in the hands 
of new trustees, and appropriated to the augmen- 
tation of small livings. The first-fruits and tenths 
of all ecclesiastical promotions, formerly payable 
to the crown, were vested in the same hands, free 
from all incumbrances, on trust, that they should 
pay yearly all such salaries and stipends as had 
been settled and confirmed in parliament; pro- 
vided the assignment to any one did not exceed 
an hundred pounds. The commissioners of the 
great seal were empowered to enquire into the 
yearly value of all ecclesiastical livings to which 
any cure of souls was annexed, that some course 
might be taken for providing a better maintenance 
where it was wanting, and that the salary of no 
incumbent should be less than one hundred 
pounds a year. A part also of the money arising 
from the sale of the bishops' lands, and those of 



DISCONTENTS. 



361 



the deans and chapters,* was appropriated for 
the support and maintenance of the bishops, and 
members of the cathedrals, who were deprived of 
their promotions and dignities. Such regulations 
were laudable, if they were effectually put in 
practice : but still the pulpit and the press sounded 
high the discontents both of the royalists and 
presbyterians. An ordinance was therefore pub- 
lished, to put the press entirely under the direc- 
tion of the parliament ; and the monthly fast, 
which had subsisted above seven years, and had 
been, in a great measure, a fast for strife and 
debate, was abrogated by another ordinance, that 
there might be no censures published on the pre- 
sent government. 

Remote parts of the kingdom, as North and 



* The money raised by the sale of those lands amounted to a 
large sum. The return of the value of the lands, contracted for 
to Aug. 29, 1650, made to the committee for the sale of them, 
fixed it at the sum of £948,409, 18s. 2\d. of which, on Aug! 
31, the total of the purchasers' acquittances amounted to 
£658,501, 2s. 9d. See Dr. Grey's Exam, of Neal, vol. iii, 
Appendix, p. 18. Dr. Walker says in his Sufferings of the Ciergy, 
p. 14, that the value of bishops' lands forfeited and sold 
amounted to a million of money. " The revenues allotted to the 
support of cathedrals and their appendages, were seized with a 
view to augment the smaller livings. But mark the event : when 
the estates were sold, the presbyterian ministers, who had taken 
possession of the livings, and expected the augmentation, were 
told, to their utter astonishment, that the money was wanted to 
support public credit. It was wanted, and it was applied 
accordingly." Bp. Home's Works, vol. iv, p. 41. 



362 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

South Wales, had not as yet experienced the 
effects of the reformation, which had been carried 
on since the commencement of the long parlia- 
ment. The clergy of those parts had not as yet 
suffered with the rest of their brethren ; but the 
parliament at last made them to compensate for 
the delay of their sufferings. Feb. 22, 1649-50, 
an Act was passed for the better propagation, and 
preaching of the gospel in Wales, for ejecting 
scandalous ministers and schoolmasters, and 
redress of some grievances ; it was to continue in 
force for three years. Dr. Walker, in his " Suffer- 
ings of the Clergy," has given a full and curious, 
though perhaps rather exaggerated account of the 
propagation of the gospel in Wales by the mission- 
aries of the commonwealth ; to which account 
the author refers his readers. 

About this time we are to date the rise of the 
people called Quakers, from George Fox, born at 
Drayton in Lancashire, and bred a shoemaker. 
He pretended that all the qualifications necessary 
for ministers were the anointing of the Spirit, 
" that people should receive the inward divine 
teachings of the Lord, and take that for their rule." 
He apprehended the Lord had forbad him to put 
off his hat to any one, and that he was to speak 
to the people without distinction, in the language 
of thee and thou, &c. In such peculiarities many 
of the enthusiasts of this time concurred; and 



QUAKERS. 



363 



George Fox had soon a great number of followers. 
Whenever he spoke in public, it was with con- 
vulsive agitations and shakings of the body, 
asserting it to be the character of a good man to 
tremble before God. Hence the name of Quakers 
is given to these people, If they had at first any 
other design than to gratify an enthusiastic spirit 
which was then so prevalent, it was to reduce all 
revealed religion to allegory, and to extirpate all 
order, ceremony, and rite out of divine service, 
leaving every thing to the impulse of their own 
spirit. Their public meetings were occasional, at 
which one or other spoke, as they were moved 
from within ; sometimes they departed without 
any one being moved to speak at all. They 
denied the scriptures to be the only rule of faith, 
and maintained that every man had a light within 
himself, which was a very sufficient rule. They 
were great disturbers of the public religion at that 
time; but now they are become an inoffensive, 
benevolent, and respectable denomination. * 

During these transactions in England, the 
young king, Charles II. was crowned in Scotland. 
This occasioned a war between the two nations. 
The king entered England at the head of an 
army, and being proclaimed in several places, was 



* For a full and interesting account of the principles of tne 
Quakers, see Claikson's Portaiture of Quakerism, 3 vols. 8vo. 



364 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



defeated by Cromwell at the battle of Worcester, 
Sept.3, 165] . His Majesty providentially escaped, 
and passed over into France. 

The war being over, the parliament therefore 
intended to reduce the army ; but, in this case, 
Cromwell could easily discern that this would 
prove his ruin, by disarming him of his power, and 
by reducing him from a general to the condition 
of a private gentleman. Upon this, he judged that 
there was no other way of maintaining his power 
than to make himself master of the parliament, by 
means of his council of officers in the army. The 
officers, therefore, combined together, and would 
not suffer any change to be made in the army, till 
the arrears of their pay were fully paid. They 
reminded the house of commons how many years 
they had sat, to the exclusion of others, who 
ought to have a share in the government of their 
country ; and then recommended them to settle 
a new council of state for the present administra- 
tion of affairs, to summon a new parliament and 
dissolve themselves. But the house, instead of 
taking this advice, at which being much irritated, 
appointed a committee to prepare a bill imme- 
diately, to make it high treason for any one to 
present any more such petitions. This precisely 
was what Cromwell looked for. Being sure that 
the parliament were as odious to the nation, as 
they were disagreeable to the army, he went to 



DISSOLUTION OF THE PARLIAMENT. 365 

the house with some officers and a file of mus- 
keteers, on the 20th of April, 1653, and without any 
ceremony told the members, that he came to put 
an end to their power, of which they had made an 
ill use, and that they must depart immediately. 

" In this manner, did Cromwell, without the 
least opposition, or even murmur, annihilate that 
famous assembly, which had filled all Europe with 
the renown of its actions, and with astonishment 
at its crimes ; and whose commencement was not 
more ardently desired by the people, than was its 
final dissolution." # 

The parliament being thus dissolved, the sove- 
reign power was necessarily to be lodged some- 
where; and Cromwell might have taken it into 
his own hands by the same authority as he dis- 
solved the parliament. But it was not time yet 
to put his plan into execution. Cromwell brought 
his council of officers to a resolution, that one 
hundred and forty-four persons should be entrusted 
with the sovereign power, and be nominated by 
himself, f At the same time that he displayed 
his abilities in the choice of these persons, he 
seemed that he had a design in view, which, 
though then concealed, would in time discover 



* Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 582. 
t See a list of the persons in Dugdale's View of the Troubles 
in England, pp. 406--409. 



366 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



itself. These persons selected to be set at the helm 
of the state, were no politicians, and were mostly 
of low and obscure birth, with no particular merit, 
and no experience in affairs. * Cromwell could 
foresee that such characters would soon grow 
tired, and find themselves obliged to place the 
government in his hands. And so every thing 
succeeded as he expected. This singular parlia- 
ment was called in contempt Barebone's parlia- 
ment, from a leatherseller of that name, f who was 
one of the most active members. Lord Claren- 
don says, that the members of this parliament 
" were generally a pack of weak senseless fellows, 
fit only to bring the name and reputation of par- 
liaments lower than it was yet." $ 

Having voted themselves to be called the Par- 



* " Of these," says Dugdale, " many were illiterate and of 
mean condition, divers fanatic sectaries, and of that kind the. 
most busy and mischievous ; yet here and there mixt with con- 
fiding men, and such whose interest was firmly twisted with 
Cromwell." View of the Troubles in England, p. 409. 

t There were three brothers of the family of the Barebones, 
each of whom had a sentence for his name, viz. Praise God 
Barebone. Christ came into the world to save Barebone. And 
if Christ had not died, thou hadst been damned Barebone. In 
this style were the christian names of very many persons formed 
during the Rebellion and Interregnum. It was said that the 
genealogy of Jesus Christ might be learnt from the names of 
Cromwell's regiments ; and that the muster master used no other 
fist than the 1st chap, of St. Matthew. See Granger's Hist, of 
England, vol. iii, p. 68. Dr. Grey's Exam, of Neal, pp. 286, 
28?. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iv, pp. 72, 73. 

I Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. iii, b.14, p. 482. 



barebone's parliament. 367 

liament of England, % they vigorously fell to work 
for a thorough reformation, dreaming of nothing 
less, than that Jesus Christ must shortly reign 
with them here on earth. To prepare the way 
therefore to his personal coming, they considered 
of abolishing the ministerial function, as savour- 
ing, in their opinion, of popery. Likewise for the 
taking away of tithes, as the relics of judaism. 
Also to abrogate the old English laws, as badges 
of conquest and Norman slavery. And lastly to 
suppress the Universities, and all schools for 
learning, as heathenish and unnecessary, with all 
titles of honour and distinctions, as not agreeable 
to Christianity. All which they had, without 
question, soon effected, but that some few of 
them, of better judgments, gave a stop to their 
frenzy. 1 '* 

The noble historian gives us the following 
account of this parliament of Cromwell's nomina- 
tion : " These men thus brought together continued 
in this capacity near six months, to the amaze- 
ment, and even mirth of the people. In which 
time they never entered into any grave and serious 
debate, that might tend to any settlement, but 
generally expressed great sharpness and animosity 
against the clergy, and against all learning, out of 



* Dugdale's View of the Troubles in England, p. 409. 



363 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



which they thought the clergy had grown, and 
still would grow. There were now no bishops 
for them to be angry with: they had already 
reduced all that order to the lowest distress. 
But their quarrel was against all who had called 
themselves ministers, and who, by being so called, 
received tithes and respect from their neighbours. 
They looked upon the function itself to be anti- 
christian, and the persons to be burdensome to 
the people; and the requiring, and payment of. 
tithes, to be absolute judaism, 'and they thought fit 
that they should be abolished together. And that 
there might not for the time to come be any race 
of people who might revive those pretences, they 
proposed, that all lands belonging to the univer- 
sities, and colleges in those universities, might be 
sold, and the monies that should arise thereby, 
be disposed for the public service, and to ease the 
people from the payment of taxes and contribu- 
tions." # 

After a session of nearly six months, little 
or nothing had been done, besides establish- 
ing the legal solemnization of marriage by the 
civil magistrate, on the 12th of December, 1653. 



* Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. iii, b. 14, p. 484. 

Neal, Harris, and some others say, that no such proposals 
were made in this parliament ; but the authority of such men as 
Dugdale, Clarendon, and Mr. Eachard, is so respectable, that it 
is unjust to tax them with falsehoods. 



PROTECTORATE. 



369 



Some of them, who were in Cromwell's secret, 
rose up, and said that men of their abilities were 
not equal to the weight of government; and there- 
fore proposed a dissolution of themselves, and a 
re-delivery of their authority into the hands from 
which they had it. This motion was no sooner 
made, than approved and executed. Cromwell 
and his council of officers were no sooner invested 
with the sovereign power, than they planned a 
new form of government. The supreme authority 
should be placed in Cromwell, who should have 
the title of Lord Protector of the Common- 
wealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and 
should be assisted by a council of one and twenty 
persons. The protector was installed with great 
magnificence, not much inferior to a coronation, 
on the 16th of December, 1653. 

In the instrument of government drawn by the 
council of officers, when Cromwell was invested 
with the protectorship, we find the following 
articles respecting religion : viz. " That the chris- 
tian religion, contained in the Scriptures, be held 
forth and recommended as the public profession 
of these nations ; that as soon as may be, a pro- 
vision less subject to contention and more certain 
than the present, be made for the maintenance of 
ministers; and that till such provision be made, 
the present maintenance continues. That none 
be compelled to conform to the public religion by 

Bb 



370 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



penalties or otherwise, but that endeavours be 
used to win them by sound doctrine, and the 
example of a good conversation. That such as 
profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, though 
differing in judgment from the doctrine, worship, 
or discipline, publicly held forth, shall not be 
restrained from, but shall be protected in the 
profession of their faith and exercise of their 
religion, so as they abuse not this liberty to the 
civil injury of others, and to the actual disturbance 
of the public peace on their parts; provided this 
liberty be not extended to popery, nor prelacy, 
nor to such as, under a profession of Christ, hold 
forth and practise licentiousness. That all laws, 
statutes, and ordinances —contrary to the afore- 
said liberty, shall be esteemed null and void."* 

Thus a legal toleration was granted to all 
errors, heresies, and sectaries whatever, and was 
denied to nothing but popery, prelacy, and immo- 
rality, which three were put upon a level. f " It 
was familiar," says Dr. Walker, " with them (as in 
truth it was with most of the writings, sermons, 
discourses, orders, and resolves of parliament, and 
other public acts of these times) to join popery 
and prelacy together, and sometimes to rank it 



* Dugdale, p. 416. 

t Neal says, that in this respect this instrument of government 
was " undoubtedly faulty." Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iv, p. 80. 



INDULGENCE TO THE CLERGY. 371 

with every thing else that was odious or detes- 
table," as particularly when in Jan. 1654, " the 
parliament debating the point of liberty of con- 
science, gravely resolved to allow it to all who 
should not maintain Atheism, Popery, prelacy, 
Profaneness, or any damnable heresy." # 

Though episcopacy was totally abolished, yet 
the assembly of the adherents of the church were 
connived at : it must be allowed that the members 
of the church of England had at this time much 
more favor and indulgence than under the parlia- 
ment. Several of the clergy publicly exercised 
their ministry, without the fetters of oaths, sub- 
scriptions, or engagements. Dr. Robert Hall, the 
eldest son of Bishop Hall, was permitted to keep 
the rectory of Clystheydon, Devon. " all the time 
of the usurpation, and there continued a great 
patron and supporter of the sequestered clergy." 
Dr. George Hall, another of Bishop Hall's sons, 
afterwards bishop of Chester, was allowed to 
preach towards the end of the usurpation, at St. 
Bartholomew's Exchange, and at St. Botolph's 
Aldersgate, London. When he was sequestered 
from his preferment in Cornwall, he would have 
kept a small school for his subsistence, but he 
was not permitted to do it. Dr. George Wilde, 
" during some part of the usurpation, kept up a 



* Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 9. 
B b 2 



372 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



religious meeting for the loyalists in Fleet-street, 
where the whole service of the church of England 
was constantly and solemnly performed." Dr. 
John Pearson, afterwards bishop of Chester in 
1650, was minister of St. Clement's Eastcheap, 
where he preached the substance of his celebrated 
Exposition of the Creed. # Several of the bishops, 
who had been kept from public services by the 
covenant and the engagement, preached again 
publicly, as Archbishop Usher, Bishop Brown- 
rigge, and others : Bishop Hall also preached and 
published some sermons about this time. 

Bishop Kennet is pleased to give this testimony 
to the liberality of Cromwell in this respect: " it 
is certain that the protector was for liberty, and 
the utmost latitude to all parties, so far as con- 
sisted with the peace and safety of his person 
and government; and therefore he was never 
jealous of any cause or sect on the account of 
heresy and falsehood, but on his wiser accounts 
of political peace and quiet: and even the 
prejudice he had against the episcopal party 
was more for their being royalists, than for being 
of the good old church. Dr. Gunning, afterwards 
bishop of Ely, kept a conventicle in London, in 
as open a manner as dissenters did after the 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part ii, pp. 25, 26, 
67, 117. 



ANOTHER PARLIAMENT. 



373 



toleration ; and so did several other episcopal 
divines."* 

The time was now arrived, when, by the 
instrument of government, the protector was 
obliged to call a parliament ; he accordingly issued 
writs, omitting many of the small boroughs and 
inserting large towns in their stead, and making 
more members for counties in proportion to their 
extent. This was an alteration generally expected 
as proper to be made with more authority, and in 
better times. The only restriction laid upon the 
election of members to this parliament, was, that 
none who had been in arms on the side of the 
king, nor their sons, should be capable of being 
elected. This parliament met with the usual for- 
malities, Sept. 3, 1654; and Cromwell made them 
a long speech. But the commons no sooner 
entered upon business, than they took into con- 
sideration the form of the present government, 
and the authority which had convened them. 
This was warmly debated for eight days together, 
with many severe reflections upon the person of 
the protector. All the influence of his party could 
not divert the debate. Cromwell, mortified and 



* Conform. Plea, part iv, p. 510. Neal's Hist, of the 
Puritans, vol. iv, p. 137. Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, 
vol. ii. p. 586. See also Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, 
part ii, p. 142. 



374 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



exasperated exceedingly, sent for the commons to 
the painted chamber ; and reprehending them for 
their freedom in debating on the instrument of 
government, the fundamentals of which, he said, 
were never to be called in question, he told them 
that he found it necessary to appoint a recognition 
of the authority by which they were made a 
parliament, before they went any more into the 
house. So when they returned, they found a 
guard placed at the door, denying entrance to all 
who would not subscribe the following recogni- 
tion : " I do hereby freely promise and engage, to 
be true and faithful to the Lord Protector of the 
commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 
and will not propose or give my consent to alter 
the government, as it is settled in one single 
person, and a parliament." 

Though this was signed by about three hundred 
members, yet they looked upon it as a violation 
of the privileges of parliament ; and were so far 
from settling his highness in the government, in 
the way he wished for, that after five months 
spent in wrangling and ill humour, the time they 
were required to sit according to the instrument 
of government, he sent for them again, and in a 
tedious, embarrassed, angry speech, dissolved 
them, without confirming any act they had passed.* 



* See Dugdale's View, pp. 423-429. 



TRIERS. 



375 



Though the presbyterian discipline was now at 
a low ebb, it was still the established religion of 
the nation ; but the affairs of religion at this 
period were in a more unsettled, distracted con- 
dition, if possible, than those of the state. The 
approbation of public ministers had been hitherto 
reserved to the several presbyteries in city and 
country; but Cromwell, observing some inconve- 
nience in this method, and not willing to trust the 
qualifications of candidates, and the admission 
into benefices, to the presbyteries only, who 
might refuse all but their own party, by an ordi- 
nance of council, appointed commissioners of 
both denominations, with eight or nine laymen. 
Any five of which had power to approve, but no 
number under nine to reject a person as unquali- 
fied. The committee, in their approbation, gave 
them an instrument sealed with a common seal, 
equivalent to letters of institution and induction, 
which put them into full possession of the livings 
to which they were nominated, or elected. But 
as there was no standard, or rule of examination 
for the Triers, as they were called, to go by, they 
either examined the candidates as to their 
advances only in grace and the time of their con- 
version ; or if they questioned them in any parts 
of learning, it was only in the system of Calvin, 
which was made the door of admission into all 
church preferments, and they exercised a power 



376 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 

greater than that of the bishops.* In this way 
many illiterate laymen, mechanics, and pedlars 
were admitted into livings, and persons of greater 
merit were rejected. 

In order to prevent any of the sequestered 
clergy to get admission, another ordinance was 
passed by the protector and his council, requiring 
these commissioners, " not to give admission to 
any ministers who had been ejected for delin- 
quency, till by experience of their conformity and 
submission to the present government, his high- 
ness and his council should be satisfied of their 
fitness to be admitted into ecclesiastical promo- 
tions."! 

Many complaints were made, and as it appears 
very justly, respecting these commissioners, for 
their partiality to the independents, anabaptists, 
fifth monarchy men, and separatists, and against 
Arminians, and the loyal clergy. Accusations 
were brought against them for bribery, and other 
corrupt practices ; but such were probably rather 
founded in resentment or malice, than in truth. 

As there was now an insurrection intended and 
attempted for the restoration of the king, and it 



* See a specimen of such examinations in Walker's Sufferings 
of the Clergy, part i, pp. 176, 177. 

f Scobel, p. 366. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iv, p. 
104. Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol, it, p. 585, &c\ 



EXTREME DISTRESS OF THE CLERGY. 377 

was thought that many of the clergy were stirring 
up the people to that purpose ; in order to humble 
them still further, and to keep them within the 
bounds of their spiritual function, another ordi- 
nance was passed by the protector and his 
council, Aug. 28, 1654, appointing lay commis- 
sioners in every county, with ten or more minis- 
ters for their assistants, and empowering any five 
to call before them public preachers, lecturers, 
parsons, vicars, curates, and schoolmasters, who 
might be reputed scandalous, ignorant, and insuffi- 
cient or negligent; and to examine into their 
offences upon oath of witnesses, and if they were 
found guilty, they were ejected, a fifth of their 
benefice or income being allowed for the support 
of their wives and children. # 

The venerable and apostolic church of England 
was now reduced to the most deplorable state. 
The injunctions of the above ordinance reduced 
the few remaining loyal clergy to the extremity of 
distress and oppression. Some few of the loyal 
clergy had been connived at during some periods 
of the usurpation in the use of the liturgy, both in 
private and in public ; but now 7 by this cruel ordi- 
nance, such as had read or used the common prayer 
book in public since Jan. 1653—4, or should at any 



* Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 178, &c. 
Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iv, p. 109. 



378 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



time hereafter do the same, were to be accounted 
scandalous, and were to be summoned before this 
inquisition-court established in every county! 
Thus, effectual measures were adopted " to turn 
the few remaining loyal clergy out of their livings, 
and to prevent their getting into any others for the 
future." Providence, however, directed many of 
them to procure subsistence for themselves and 
families by being chaplains and tutors in private 
families, and by keeping schools. But as they 
were accused of being turbulent, of publishing 
libels against the present government, and of 
threatening to assassinate the protector, he there- 
fore determined to crush them, and accordingly 
an order was published, Nov. 24, " that no per- 
sons, after Jan. 1st, 1655--6, shall keep in their 
houses or families, as chaplains or schoolmasters, 
for the education of their children, any sequestered 
or ejected minister, fellow of a college, or school- 
master, nor permit any of their children to be 
taught by such. That no person, who hath been 
sequestered or ejected out of any benefice, college, 
or school, for delinquency or scandal, shall keep 
any school either public or private, nor any person, 
who after that time, shall be ejected for the afore- 
said causes. That no such persons shall preach 
in any public place, or at any private meeting of 
any other persons than those of his own family, 
nor shall administer baptism, or the Lord's supper, 



MISERIES OF THE LOYAL CLERGY. 379 

nor marry any persons, nor use the book of 
common prayer, or the forms of prayer therein 
contained, upon pain of being prosecuted, accor- 
ding to the orders lately published by his highness 
and council, for securing the peace of the com- 
monwealth. Nevertheless his highness declares, 
that towards such of the said persons as have, 
since their ejectment or sequestration, given, or 
hereafter shall give, a real testimony of their god- 
liness, and good affection to the present govern- 
ment, so much tenderness shall be used, as may 
consist with the safety and good of the nation."* 

" The severities of this declaration," says Dr. 
Walker, " seem to have completed the miseries of 
the loyal clergy, and were, on this account, more 
the effect of pure and unmixed cruelty, than any of 
the former ordinances. Forasmuch as the poor 
livelihoods now taken from the royalists, were of 
such a nature, that they could not be distributed 
(as the rich livings had been) among their own 
clergy. Nor were they of so much consideration, 
as to move either their envy, or their covetous- 
ness. Several of the former ordinances had indeed 
ejected them from the schools, as well as the 
livings, and taken care that they should not be 
employed again in either of them. But this 



* Harleian Miscellany, vol. v, p. 249. Walker's Sufferings 
of the Clergy, part, i, p. 194. 



380 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



declaration first hunted them out of the private 
families of such as were willing to entertain them 
for chaplains or tutors. And, though the peace 
of the kingdom was made the pretence, the plain 
effect was, the starving both of themselves and 
their families, as far as the directions and orders 
of this declaration could do it." # Neal and 
Harris, both not very friendly to the loyal clergy, 
acknowledge the cruelty of this ordinance : the 
former says, " This was a severe and terrible 
order upon the episcopalians, and absolutely 
unjustifiable in itself : " the words of the latter 
are the following: This " edict against the epis- 
copal clergy was very cruel, as it deprived them 
in a good measure of their maintenance, and of 
their liberty of worshipping God according as 
appeared best to their own understanding." " It 
would be useless to spend words in exposing the 
cruelty of this declaration. Persecution is written 
on the face of it ; nor is it capable of a vindi- 
cation. " f 

These last degrees of extremity, to which the 



* Sufferings of the Clergy, part, i, p. 194. 

It is also said that Cromwell took care that the Loyalists 
should have no employment at home or abroad ; that they 
should have nothing to subsist by ; and also enacted, that it 
should be penal, if they went about to beg ! ! Ibid, supra. 

f See Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iv, p. 136, and Life of 
Oliver Cromwell, p. 429, ed. 1814. 



PETITIONS TO THE PROTECTOR. 381 

injunctions of this declaration reduced the loyal 
clergy, compelled some of their brethren, to ven- 
ture themselves before Cromwell in behalf of those 
miserable sufferers. Dr. Gauden presented a 
petitionary remonstrance to the protector against 
this order: and some of the most considerable 
episcopal clergy on the issuing forth of this decree, 
applied to Archbishop Usher to use his interest 
with the protector : " that as he granted liberty 
of conscience to almost all sorts of religions, so 
the episcopal divines might have the same freedom 
of serving God in their private congregations, 
(since they were not permitted the public 
churches) according to the liturgy of the church 
of England ; and that neither the ministers, nor 
those that frequented that service, might be any 
more hindered or disturbed by his soldiers. So 
according to their desires, continues Dr. Parr, 
the biographer of Archbishop Usher, " he went 
and used his utmost endeavours with Cromwell, 
for the taking off this restraint, which was at last 
promised, (though with some difficulty) that they 
should not be molested, provided they meddled 
not with any matters relating to his government : " 
but when the primate went to him again, to get 
this promise ratified and put into writing, he found 
the protector under the hands of his surgeon, who 
was dressing a great boil that he had then upon 
his breast. He desired the primate to sit down, 



382 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



and said he would speak with him when the 
dressing was over. Whilst it was doing, he said 
to the primate, ' if this core, (pointing to the boil) 
were once out, I should quickly be well.' To 
which the primate replied, " I doubt the core lies 
deeper ; there is a core at the heart that must be 
taken out, or else it will not be well." ' Ah! 
replied Cromwell,' seemingly unconcerned, ' so 
there is indeed,' and sighed. But when the pri- 
mate began to speak of the business he came 
about, he answered to this effect, ' that he had 
since better considered it, having advised with 
his council, who thought it not safe for him to 
grant liberty of conscience to those sort of men, 
who are restless and implacable enemies to him 
and his government,' and so took his leave with 
good words and outward civility. The Lord 
Primate seeing it was in vain to urge it any further, 
said little more to him, but returned to his 
lodgings very much troubled, and concerned that 
his endeavours had met with no better success. 
When he was in his chamber, he said to some of 
his relations, and Dr. Parr who came to visit him, 
" This false man hath broken his word with me, 
and refuses to perform what he promised. Well, 
he will have little cause to glory in his wicked- 
ness, for he will not continue long. The king 
will return : though I shall not live to see it, you 
may. The government, both in church and state, 



SONS OF THE CLERGY. 



383 



is in confusion. The papists are advancing their 
projects, and making such advantages as will 
hardly be prevented," # 

6 < This truly venerable primate," says Harris, 
" had reason to be out of humour. For whatever 
might have been the practices of many of the 
episcopal clergy, it is certain there were amongst 
them wise, pious, learned, and peaceable men, 
who merited a very different treatment from this 
which was given them by Oliver." However it 
has been before mentioned that some worthy 
episcipal clergy were connived at, or permitted to 
officiate in the churches, and probably all of them 
did not suffer inconveniences on account of this 
severe declaration. It mnst be allowed that 
some small degree of tenderness was used towards 
some, though there is no doubt but many innocent 
and worthy men must have received very hard 
measure, f 

The charitable society for the relief of the 
widows and children of clergymen, since known 
by the name of the Corporation for the Sons of the 
Clergy, commenced in the year 1655. The first 
sermon was preached by the Rev. George Hall, 
M. A. son of Bishop Hall, then minister of St. 
Botolph's, Aldersgate, afterwards chaplain to King 



* Dr. Parr's Life of Usher, p. 75. 

t See Harris's Life of Oliver Cromwell, pp. 430, 431. 



384 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Charles II. Archdeacon of Canterbury and Bishop 
of Chester. The sermon was entitled, " God's 

APPEARING FOR THE TRIBE OF LEVI, improved 

in a sermon preached at St. Paul's, Nov. 8, 1655, 
to the sons of ministers then solemnly assembled, 
from Numb, xvii, 8. The rod of Aaron bud- 
ded, AND BLOOMED BLOSSOMS, AND YIELDED 

almonds. The preacher's design was to enforce 
the necessity and usefulness of a settled ministry ; 
though his sermon discovered him to be a 
minister of the church of England, yet it breathed 
moderation and christian charity : " Let those 
ill -invented terms," said he, " whereby we have 
been distinguished from each other, be swal- 
lowed up in that name which will lead us hand 
in hand to heaven — the name of christians. 
If my stomach, or any of yours, rise against the 
name of brotherly communion, which may consist 
with our several principles retained, not differing 
in substantials, God take down that stomach, and 
make us see how much we are concerned to keep 
the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Why 
should some, in the height of their zeal for a 
liturgy, suppose there can be no service of God 
but where that is used? Why should others, 
again, think their piety concerned and trespassed 
upon, if I prefer, and think fit to use a set form? 
There must be abatements and allowances of 
each other ; a coming down from our punctilios, 



SONS OF THE CLERGY. 



385 



or we shall never give up a good account to God. 
This noble charity from that time gradually 
increased, by collections at annual sermons, and 
other large contributions and donations, and was 
established by charter in the reign of Charles II. 
and so the society became a body corporate : and 
their present flourishing condition is well known 
to the whole nation.* 

From this time to the death of Bishop Hall in 
the following year, and indeed to the restoration, 
the general calamity continued. 



* Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iv, pp. 142, 143. War- 
ner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 586. 



C c 



CHAPTER XI. 



As a review of the proceedings of the long 
parliament against the church, and of the suf- 
ferings of the bishops and clergy, it may be 
proper here to annex 

BISHOP HALL'S HARD MEASURE. 

u Nothing could be more plain, than that, on 
the call of this parliament, and before, there was a 
general plot and resolution of the faction to alter 
the government of the church especially. The 
height and insolency of some church governors, as 
was conceived, and the ungrounded imposition of 
some innovations on the churches both of Scot- 
land and England, gave a fit hint to the project. 

" In the vacancy, therefore, before the sum- 
mons, and immediately after it, there was great 
working secretly for the designation and election, 
as of knights and burgesses, so especially, beyond 
all former use, of the clerks of convocation : 
when now the clergy were stirred up to contest 
with and oppose their diocesans, for the choice 



HARD MEASURE. 



387 



of such men as were most inclined to the favour 
of an alteration. 

" The parliament was no sooner sat, than many 
vehement speeches were made against established 
church government, and enforcement of extirpa- 
tion both root and branch. 

" And, because it was not fit to set upon all at 
once, the resolution was to begin with those 
bishops which had subscribed to the canons then 
lately published, upon the shutting up of the for- 
mer parliament: whom they would first have had 
accused of treason ; but that not appearing 
feasible, they thought best to indict them of very 
high crimes and offences against the king, the 
parliament, and kingdom : which was prosecuted 
with great earnestness by some prime lawyers in 
the house of commons, aud entertained with 
like fervency by some zealous lords in the house 
of peers ; every of those particular canons being 
pressed to the most envious and dangerous 
height that was possible : the archbishop of York 
(was designed for the report) aggravating Mr. 
Maynard's criminations to the utmost, not with- 
out some interspersions of his own. The counsel 
of the accused bishops gave in such a demurring 
answer, as stopped the mouth of that heinous 
indictment. 

" When this prevailed not, it was contrived to 
draw petitions accusatory from many parts of 

Cc 2 



388 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



the kingdom against episcopal government; and 
the promoters of the petitions were entertained 
with great respects : whereas the many petitions 
of the opposite part, though subscribed with many 
thousand hands, were slighted and disregarded. 

" Withal, the rabble of London, after their 
petitions cunningly and upon other pretences pro- 
cured, were stirred up to come to the houses 
personally to crave justice both against the earl 
of Strafford, first; and, then, against the arch- 
bishop of Canterbury; and, lastly, against the 
whole order of bishops ; which, coining at first 
unarmed, were checked by some well-willers, 
and easily persuaded to gird on their rusty 
swords ; and, so accoutred, came by thousands 
to the houses, filling all the outer rooms, offering 
foul abuses to the bishops as they passed, crying 
out ' No bishops, no bishops !' and, at last, after 
divers days' assembling, grown to that height of 
fury, that many of them, whereof Sir Richard 
Wiseman professed (though to his cost) to be 
captain, came with resolution of some violent 
courses, insomuch that many swords were drawn 
hereon at Westminster, and the rout did not stick 
openly to profess that they would pull the 
bishops in pieces. Messages were sent down to 
them from the lords. They still held firm, both 
to the place and their bloody resolutions. It 
now grew to be torch light. One of the lords, 
the Marquis of Hertford, came up to the bishops' 



HARD MEASURE. 



389 



form, told us, that we were in great danger, 
advised us to take some course for our own 
safety; and, being desired to tell us what he 
thought was the best way, counselled us to con 
tinue in the parliament house all that night: 
' For,' saith he, 4 these people vow they will 
watch you at your going out, and will search 
every coach for you with torches, so as you 
cannot escape.' Hereupon the house of lords was 
moved for some order for the preventing their 
mutinous and riotous meetings. Messages were 
sent down to the house of commons to this 
purpose more than once : nothing was effected ; 
but, for the present (forsomuch as all the danger 
was at the rising of the house) it was earnestly 
desired of the lords that some care might be 
taken of our safety. The motion was received 
by some lords with a smile. Some other lords, 
as the earl of Manchester, undertook the protec- 
tion of the archbishop of York and his company 
(whose shelter I went under) to their lodgings. 
The rest, some of them by their long stay, others 
by secret and far-fetched passages, escaped home. 

" It was not for us to venture any more to the 
house without some better assurance. Upon our 
resolved forbearance therefore, the archbishop of 
York sent for us to his lodging at Westminster; 
lays before us the perilous condition we were 
in ; advises for remedy, except we meant utterly 
to abandon our right and to desert our station in 



» 



390 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



parliament, to petition both his Majesty and the 
parliament, that, since we were legally called by 
his Majesty's writ to give our attendance in par- 
liament, we might be secured, in the performance 
of our duty and service, against those dangers that 
threatened us ; and, withal, to protest against any 
such acts as should be made during the time of 
our forced absence: for which he assured us 
there were many precedents in former parlia- 
ments ; and which, if we did not, we should 
betray the trust committed to us by his Majesty, 
and shamefully betray and abdicate the due right 
both of ourselves and successors. 

" To this purpose, in our presence, he drew up 
the said petition and protestation ; avowing it to 
be legal, just, and agreeable to all former pro- 
ceedings; and, being fair written, sent it to our 
several lodgings for our hands : which we accor- 
dingly subscribed, intending yet to have had some 
further consultation concerning the delivering and 
whole carriage of it. But, ere we could suppose 
it to be in any hand but his own, the first news 
we heard was, that there were messengers 
addressed to fetch us in to the parliament, on an 
accusation of high treason. For, whereas this 
paper was to have been delivered, first to his 
Majesty's secretary ; and, after perusal by him, 
to his Majesty; and, after, from his Majesty to 
the parliament ; and, for that purpose, to the Lord 



HARD MEASURE. 



Keeper, the Lord Littleton, who was the speaker 
of the house of peers ; all these professed not to 
have perused it at all : but the said Lord Keeper, 
willing enough to take this advantage of engratiat- 
ing himself with the house of commons and the 
faction, to which he knew himself sufficiently 
obnoxious, finding what use might be made of it 
by prejudicate minds, reads the same openly in 
the house of the lords : and, when he found some 
of the faction apprehensive enough of miscon- 
struction, aggravates the matter, as highly offen- 
sive and of dangerous consequence; and, there- 
upon, not without much heat and vehemence, and 
with an ill preface, it is sent down to the house of 
commons: where it was entertained heinously; 
Glynne, with a full mouth, crying it up for no less 
than a high treason ; and some comparing, yea 
preferring, it to the powder plot. 

" We, poor souls, who little thought that we had 
done any thing that might deserve a chiding, are 
now called to our knees at the bar, and charged 
severally with high treason; being not a little 
astonished at the suddenness of this crimination, 
compared with the perfect innocence of our own 
intentions, which were only to bring us to our due 
places in parliament with safety and speed, 
without the least purpose of any man's offence. 

" But, now, traitors we are in all the haste, and 
must be dealt with accordingly : for, on January 



392 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



30th, # in all the extremity of frost, at eight o'clock 
in the dark evening, are we voted to the Tower : 
only two of our number had the favor of the black 
rod, by reason of their age; which, though 
desired by a noble lord on my behalf, would not 
be yielded. Wherein I acknowledge and bless 
the gracious providence of my God : for, had I 
been gratified, I had been undone both in body 
and purse; the rooms being strait, and the 
expense beyond the reach of my estate. 

" The news of this our crime and imprisonment 
soon flew over the city; and was entertained 
by our well-willers, with ringing of bells and 
bonfires : who now gave us up, not without great 
triumph, for lost men ; railing on our perfidious- 
ness, and adjudging us to what foul deaths 
they pleased. And what scurrile and malicious 
pamphlets were scattered abroad, throughout the 
kingdom and in foreign parts, blazoning our 
infamy, and exaggerating our treasonable practices ! 
What insultations of our adversaries was here ! 

" Being caged sure enough in the Tower, the 
faction had now fair opportunities to work their 
own designs. They, therefore, taking the advan- 
tage of our restraint, renew that bill of theirs, 



* It should be December 30, for the date of the Letter from 
the Tower is January 24, 1641. See Bishop Hall's Works, 
vol. i, p. liii, and p. 398 of this volume. 



HARD MEASURE. 



393 



which had been twice before rejected since the 
beginning of this session, for taking away the 
votes of the bishops in parliament ; and, in a very 
thin house, easily passed it : which once conde- 
scended unto, I know not by what strong impor- 
tunity, his Majesty's assent was drawn from him 
thereunto. 

" We now, instead of looking after our wonted 
honor, must bend our thoughts on the guarding of 
our lives ; which were, with no small eagerness, 
pursued by the violent agents of the faction. 
Their sharpest wits and greatest lawyers were 
employed to advance our impeachment to the 
height, but the more they looked into the busi- 
ness, the less crime could they find to fasten on 
us : insomuch as one of their oracles, being 
demanded his judgment concerning the fact, pro- 
fessed to them, they might with as good reason 
accuse us of adultery.* Yet, still, there are we 
fast: only, upon petition to the lords, obtaining this 
favor, that we might have counsel assigned us : 
which after much reluctation, and many menaces 
from the commons against any man of all the 
commoners of England that should dare to be 
seen to plead in this case against the representa- 
tive body of the commons, was granted us. The 
lords assigned us five very worthy lawyers, which 



* See Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 7. 



394 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



were nominated to them by us. What trouble 
and charge it was to procure those eminent and 
much employed counsellors to come to the 
Tower to us ; and to observe the strict laws of 
the place, for the time of their ingress, regress, 
and stay ; it is not hard to judge. 

" After we had lain some weeks there, however, 
the house of commons, on the first tender of our 
impeachment, had desired we might be brought 
to a speedy trial ; yet now, finding belike how 
little ground they had for so high an accusation, 
they began to slack their pace, and suffered us 
rather to languish under the fear of so dreadful 
arraignment: insomuch as now we are fain to 
petition the lords that we might be brought to our 
trial. 

" The day was set: several summons were sent 
unto us : the lieutenant had his warrant to bring us 
to the bar : our impeachment was severally read : 
we pleaded * not guilty,' modo et forma ; and 
desired speedy proceedings : which were accord- 
ingly promised, but not too hastily performed. 

' ' After long expectation, another day was 
appointed for the prosecution of this high charge. 
The lieutenant brought us again to the bar ; but, 
with what shoutings, and exclamations, and 
furious expressions of the enraged multitudes, it 
is not easy to apprehend. Being thither brought, 
and severally charged on our knees, and having 



HARD MEASURE. 



395 



given our negative answers to every particular, 
two bishops, London and Winchester, were called 
in as witnesses against us, as in that point, 
whether they apprehended any such cause of fears 
in the tumults assembled, as that we were in 
danger of our lives in coming to the parliament : 
who seemed to incline to a favourable report of 
the perils threatened; though one of them was 
convinced out of his own mouth, from the relations 
himself had made at the archbishop of York's 
lodging. After this, Wild and Glynne made 
fearful declamations at the bar against us; 
aggravating all the circumstances of our pretended 
treason to the highest pitch. Our counsel were 
all ready at the bar to plead for us, in answer of 
their clamorous and envious suggestions : but it 
was answered, that it was now too late, we should 
have another day : which day, to this day, never 
came. 

" The circumstances of that day's hearing were 
more grievous to us than the substance : for we 
were all thronged so miserably in that strait room 
before the bar, by reason that the whole house of 
commons would be there to see the prizes of 
their champions played, that we stood the whole 
afternoon in no small torture ; sweating and strug- 
gling with a merciless multitude ; till, being dis- 
missed, we were exposed to a new and greater 
danger. For now, in the dark, we must to the 



396 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Tower ; by barge, as we came : and must shoot 
the bridge, with no small peril. That God, under 
whose merciful protection we are, returned us to 
our safe custody. 

" There now we lay some weeks longer, expect- 
ing the summons for our counsels' answer ; but, 
instead thereof, onr merciful adversaries, well 
finding how sure they would be foiled in that 
unjust charge of treason, now, under pretences of 
remitting the height of rigor, wave their former 
impeachment of treason against us, and fall on an 
accusation of high misdemeanors in that our 
protestation, and will have us prosecuted as guilty 
of a Premunire: although, as we conceive, the 
law hath ever been in the parliamentary proceed- 
ings, that, if a man were impeached, as of treason, 
being the highest crime, the accusant must hold 
him to the proof of the charge, and may not fall 
to any meaner impeachment on failing of the 
higher. 

" But, in this case of ours, it fell out otherwise : 
for, although the lords had openly promised us, 
that nothing should be done against us, till we 
and our counsel were heard in our defence ; yet 
the next news we heard was, the house of com- 
mons had drawn up a bill against us, wherein 
they declared us to be delinquents of a very high 
nature, and had thereon desired to have it enacted 
that all our spiritual means should be taken 



HARD MEASURE. 



397 



away : only there should be a yearly allowance 
to every bishop for his maintenance, according to 
a proportion by them set down; wherein they 
were pleased that my share should come to four 
hundred pounds per annum. This bill was sent 
up to the lords, and by them also passed : and 
there hath ever since lain. 

" This being done, after some weeks more, find- 
ing the Tower, besides the restraint, chargeable; 
we petitioned the lords, that we might be admitted 
to bail, and have liberty to return to our homes. 
The Earl of Essex moved : the lords assented, 
took our bail, sent to the lieutenant of the Tower 
for our discharge. How glad were we to fly out 
of our cage ! 

" No sooner was I got to my lodging, than I 
thought to take a little fresh air in St. James's 
Park ; and, in my return to my lodging in the 
Deans Yard, passing through Westminster Hall, 
was saluted by divers of my parliament acquaint- 
ance, and welcomed to my liberty : whereupon 
some, that looked upon me with an evil eye, run 
into the house, and complained that the bishops 
were let loose : which, it seems, was not well 
taken by the house of commons ; who presently 
sent a kind of expostulation to the lords, that 
they had dismissed so heinous offenders without 
their knowledge and consent. 

Scarce had I rested me in my lodging, when 



398 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



there comes a messenger to me with the sad 
news, of sending me and the rest of my brethren 
the bishops back to the Tower again: from 
whence we came, thither we must go ; and thither 
I went with a heavy, but I thank God, not impa- 
tient heart. 

" After we had continued there some six weeks 
longer, and earnestly petitioned to return to our 
several charges, we were on five thousand pound 
bond dismissed ; with a clause of revocation at a 
short warning, if occasion should require. 

" Thus having spent the time betwixt new year's 
even and whitsuntide in those safe walls, where 
we by turns preached every Lord's day to a large 
auditory of citizens, we disposed of ourselves to 
the places of our several abode. 

" For myself, addressing myself to Norwich, 
whither it was his Majesty's pleasure to remove 
me, I was at the first received with more respect 
than in such times I could have expected. 
There I preached, the day after my arrival, to a 
numerous and attentive people : neither was 
sparing of my pains in this kind ever since ; till 
the times, growing every day more impatient of 
a bishop, threatened my silencing. 

" There, though with some secret murmurs of 
disaffected persons, I enjoyed peace till the ordi- 
nance of sequestration came forth, which was in 
the latter end of March following ; then, when 



HARD MEASURE. 



399 



I was in hope of receiving the profits of the fore- 
going half year for the maintenance of my family, 
were all my rents stopped and diverted ; and, 
in the April following, came the sequestrators, 
viz. Mr. Sotherton, Mr.Tooley, Mr.Rawley, Mr. 
Greenwood, &c. to the palace ; and told me, 
that, by virtue of an ordinance of parliament, 
they must seize on the palace, and all the estate 
I had, both real and personal ; and, accordingly, 
sent certain men appointed by them, whereof 
one had been burnt in the hand for the mark of 
his truth, to apprise all the goods that were in 
the house : which they accordingly executed with 
all diligent severity ; not leaving so much as a 
dozen of trenchers, or my children's pictures, 
out of their curious inventory. Yea, they would 
have apprised our very wearing clothes, had not 
Alderman Tooley and Sheriff Rawley, to whom 
I sent to require their judgment concerning the 
ordinance in this point, declared their opinion to 
the contrary. 

" These goods, both library and household stuff 
of all kinds, were appointed to be exposed to 
public sale. Much inquiry there was when the 
goods should be brought to the market; but, in 
the mean time, Mrs. Goodwin, a religious good 
gentlewoman, whom yet we had never known or 
seen, being moved with compassion, very kindly 
offered to lay down to the sequestrators that 



400 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



whole sum which the goods were valued at ; and 
was pleased to leave them in our hands for our 
use, till we might be able to re-purchase them : 
which she did accordingly, and had the goods 
formally delivered to her by Mr. Smith and Mr. 
Greenwood, two sequestrators. As for the books, 
several stationers looked on them ; but were not 
forward to buy them : at last, Mr. Cook, a worthy 
divine of this diocese, gave bond to the sequestra- 
tors, to pay to them the whole sum whereat they 
were set : which was afterwards satisfied out of 
that poor pittance that was allowed me for my 
maintenance. As for my evidences, they required 
them from me. I denied them, as not holding 
myself bound to deliver them. They nailed and 
sealed up the door, and took such as they found 
with me. 

" But, before this, the first noise that I heard of 
my trouble was, that, one morning, before my 
servants were up, there came to my gates one 
Wright, a London trooper, attended with others, 
requiring entrance : threatening, if they were not 
admitted, to break open the gates : whom I 
found, at my first sight, struggling with one of my 
servants for a pistol which he had in his hand. I 
demanded his business at that unseasonable time. 
He told me, he came to search for arms and 
ammunition, of which I must be disarmed. I 
told him I had only two muskets in the house, 



HARD MEASURE. 



401 



and no other military provision. He, not resting 
upon my word, searched round about the house, 
looked into the chests and trunks, examined the 
vessels in the cellar. Finding no other warlike 
furniture, he asked me what horses I had, for his 
commission was to take them also. I told him 
how poorly I was stored, and that my age would 
not allow me to travel on foot. In conclusion, he 
took one horse, for the present : and such accompt 
of another, that he did highly expostulate with 
me afterwards, that I had otherwise disposed of 
him. 

" Now not only my rents present, but the arrear- 
ages of the former years which I had in favor 
forborne to some tenants, being treacherously 
confessed to the sequestrators, were by them 
called for, and taken from me. Neither was there 
any course at all taken for my maintenance. I 
therefore addressed myself to the committee sit- 
ting here at Norwich ; and desired them to give 
order for some means, out of that large patrimony 
of the church, to be allowed me. They all thought 
it very just ; and, there being present Sir Thomas 
Woodhouse and Sir John Potts, parliament men, 
it was moved, and held fit by them and the rest, 
that the proportion which the votes of the parlia- 
ment had pitched on, viz. four hundred pounds 
per annum, should be allowed to me. My Lord 



402 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



of Manchester, who was then conceived to have 
great power in matter of these sequestrations, was 
moved herewith. He apprehended it very just 
and reasonable ; and wrote to the committee 
here, to set out so many of the manors belonging 
to this bishoprick, as should amount to the said 
sum of four hundred pounds annually ; which was 
answerably done, under the hands of the whole 
table. 

" And now I well hoped, I should yet have a 
good competency of maintenance out of that 
plentiful estate which I might have had : but 
those hopes were no sooner conceived than 
dashed ; for, before I could gather up one 
quarter's rent, there comes down an order 
from the committee for sequestrations above, 
under the hand of Sergeant Wild the chairman, 
procured by Mr. Miles Corbet, to inhibit any 
such allowance; and telling our committee 
here, that neither they, nor any other, had 
power to allow me any thing at all : but, if 
my wife found herself to need a maintenance, 
on her suit to the committee of lords and 
commons, it might be granted that she should 
have a fifth part, according to the ordinance, 
allowed for the sustentation of herself and 
her family. Hereupon she sends a petition up to 
that committee ; which, after a long delay, was 



I 



HARD MEASURE. 



403 



admitted to be read, and an order was granted for 
the fifth part. * 

" But still the rents and revenues, both of my 
spiritual and temporal lands, were taken up by 
the sequestrators, both in Norfolk, and Suffolk, 
and Essex, and we kept off from either allowance 
or accompt. 

" At last, upon much pressing, Beadle the solici- 
tor, and Rust the collector, brought in an account 
to the committee, such as it was ; but so confused 
and perplexed, and so utterly unperfect, that we 
could never come to know what a fifth part 
meant : but they were content that I should eat 
my books, by setting off the sum engaged for 
them out of the fifth part. Meantime, the syno- 
dalls, both in Norfolk and Suffolk, and all the 
spiritual profits of the diocese, were also kept 
back : only ordinations and institutions continued 
awhile. 

" But after the covenant was appointed to be 
taken, and was generally swallowed of both 
clergy and laity, my power of ordination was, 
with some strange violence, restrained : for when 
I was going on in my wonted course, which no 
law or ordinance had inhibited, certain forward 
volunteers in the city, banding together, stir up 



* See Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, for a full account of 
Xhejifth part allowed to delinquents, pp. 99-104, part i. 

D d 2 



404 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



the mayor and aldermen and sheriffs to call me to 
an account for an open violation of their covenant. 

" To this purpose, divers of them came to my 
gates at a very unseasonable time ; and, knocking 
very vehemently, required to speak with the 
Bishop. Messages were sent to them to know 
their business: nothing would satisfy them but 
the Bishop's presence. At last, I came down to 
them, and demanded what the matter was : they 
would have the gate opened, and then they would 
tell me. 1 answered that I would know them 
better first : if they had any thing to say to me, I 
was ready to hear them. They told me they had 
a writing to me, from Mr. Mayor, and some other 
of their magistrates. The paper contained both a 
challenge of me for breaking the covenant, in 
ordaining ministers ; and, withal, required me to 
give in the names of those, which were ordained 
by me both then and formerly since the covenant. 
My answer was, that Mr. Mayor was much 
abused by those who had misinformed him, and 
drawn that paper from him ; that I would the 
next day give a full answer to the writing. They 
moved that my answer might be by my personal 
appearance at the Guildhall. I asked them when 
they ever heard of a bishop of Norwich appearing 
before a mayor. I knew mine own place ; and 
would take that way of answer which I thought 
fit; and so dismissed them, who had given out 



HARD MEASURE. 



405 



that day, that had they known before of mine 
ordaining, they would have pulled me and those 
whom I had ordained out of the chapel by the 
ears. 

" While I received nothing, yet something was 
required of me. They were not ashamed, after 
they had taken away and sold all my goods and 
personal estate, to come to me for assessments 
and monthly payments for that estate which they 
had taken ; and took distresses from me, upon my 
most just denial ; and vehemently required me to 
find the wonted arms of my predecessors, when 
they had left me nothing. 

" Many insolencies and affronts were, in all this 
time, put upon us. One while, a whole rabble of 
volunteers came to my gates late, when they were 
locked up, and called for the porter to give them 
entrance : which being not yielded, they threat- 
ened to make by force ; and, had not the said 
gates been very strong, they had done it. Others 
of them clambered over the walls, and would 
come into my house : their errand, they said, was 
to search for delinquents: what they would have 
done I know not, had not we by a secret way 
sent to raise the officers for our rescue. Another 
while, the Sheriff Toftes and Alderman Linsey, 
attended with many zealous followers, came into 
my chapel, to look for superstitious pictures 
and relics of idolatry ; and sent for me, to let me 



406 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



know they found those windows full of images, 
which were very offensive, and must be demo- 
lished. * I told them they were the pictures of 
some ancient and worthy bishops, as St. Ambrose, 
Austin, &c. It was answered me, that they 
were so many popes; and one younger man 
amongst the rest (Townsend, as I perceived after- 
wards) would take on him to defend that every 
diocesan bishop was pope. I answered him with 
some scorn ; and obtained leave that I might, 
with the least loss and defacing of the windows, 
give order for taking off that offence ; which I did, 
by causing the heads of those pictures to be taken 
off, since I knew the bodies could not offend. 

" There was not that care and moderation used 
in reforming the cathedral church bordering on 
my palace. $ It is no other than tragical, to relate 
the carriage of that furious sacrilege, whereof our 
eyes and ears were the sad witnesses, under the 
authority and presence of Linsey, Toftes the 
sheriff, and Greenwood. Lord, what work was 
here! what clattering of glasses! what beating 
down of walls ! what tearing up of monuments ! 
what pulling down of seats ! what wresting out of 
irons and brass from the windows and graves ! 



* See Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 24, part i. 

f This sacrilegious outrage was committed on June 10, 1644. 



HARD MEASURE. 



407 



what defacing of arms! what demolishing of 
curious stone- work, that had not any representa- 
tion in the world, but only of the cost of the 
founder, and skill of the mason ! what tooting and 
piping on the destroyed organ pipes ! and what a 
hideous triumph on the market-day before all the 
country; when, in a kind of sacrilegious and 
profane procession, all the organ pipes, vestments, 
both copes and surplices, together with the leaden 
cross which had been newly sawn down from 
over the Green-yard pulpit, and the service-books 
and singing-books that could be had, were carried 
to the fire in the public market-place; a lewd 
wretch walking before the train, in his cope trail- 
ing in the dirt, with a service-book in his hand, 
imitating in an impious scorn the tune, and usurp- 
ing the words of the litany used formerly in the 
church. Near the public cross, all these monu- 
ments of idolatry must be sacrificed to the fire 
not without much ostentation of a zealous joy, in 
discharging ordnance, to the cost of some, who 
professed how much they had longed to see that 
day. Neither was it any news upon this Guild-day, 
to have the cathedral, now open on all sides, to be 
filled with musketeers, waiting for the Major's 
return ; drinking and tobacconing as freely, as if 
it had turned alehouse. 

" Still yet I remained in my palace, though with 
but a poor retinue and means ; but the house was 



408 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



held too good for me. Many messages were sent 
by Mr. Corbet to remove me thence. The first 
pretence was, that the committee, who was now 
at charge for a house to sit in, might make their 
daily session there; being a place both more 
public, roomy, and chargeless. The committee, 
after many consultations, resolved it convenient to 
remove thither : though many overtures and offers 
were made to the contrary. Mr. Corbet was 
impatient of my stay there; and procures and 
sends peremptory messages, for my present dis- 
lodging ; we desired to have some time allowed 
for providing some other mansion, if we must 
needs be cast out of this ; which my wife was so 
willing to hold, that she offered, if the charge of 
the present committee house where the thing stood 
upon, she would be content to defray the sum of the 
rent of that house of her fifth part : but that might 
not be yielded : out we must, and that in three 
weeks' warning by Midsummer day then approach- 
ing; so as we might have lain in the street for 
aught I know, had not the providence of God so 
ordered it, that a neighbour in the close, one Mr. 
Gostlin, a widower, was content to void his house 
for us. # 



* In 1642, or 1843, William Gostlin, the mayor of Norwich* 
was sent a prisoner to Cambridge, for refusing to sanction the 
outrages of these reformers. — Topograph, and Histor. Account 
of Norwich, p. 242. 



HIS SUFFERINGS. 



409 



" This hath been my measure ; wherefore, I 
know not : Lord, thou knowest, who only canst 
remedy, and end, and forgive or avenge this 
horrible oppression. 

Scripsi, May 29, 1647. " JOS. NORVIC." 



Bishop Hall, on account of the distractions 
and calamities of the times, enjoyed but a very 
short respite of peace and quietness, as bishop of 
Norwich ; the aspect of the times threatened the 
utmost severity against his order. He spent a 
considerable portion of his old age under a perse- 
cution, which has consigned his oppressors to 
infamy ; many of whom would have been forgot- 
ten, even in name, but for their unchristian-like 
treatment of this eminent and meek divine. 
Under all the scenes of oppression and violence, 
his writings evince the spirit of the christian philo- 
sopher, and are indeed his truest testimony. 
About the beginning of April, 1643, the ordinance 
for sequestering the estates of notorious delin- 
quents having been passed, in which Bishop Hall, 
and the other prelates, who had been committed 
to the Tower, were included, the real and per- 
sonal estates of those twelve prelates by name, 
together with those of the archbishop of Canter- 
bury, and the bishop of Norwich, were ordered to 
be sequestered into the hands of commissioners. 



410 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



The estates also of all persons, whether ecclesi- 
astical or temporal, who had discovered any affec- 
tion to his Majesty, or any dislike to the pro- 
ceedings of this parliament, were ordered to be 
sequestered. Many clergymen of eminent learn- 
ing, and of blameless lives and conversations, who 
were sound protestants and excellent preachers, 
lost their estates and livelihoods through this 
merciless ordinance. Even the piety, modera- 
tion, and years of Bishop Hall could not save his 
property from the rapacious hands of these 
sequestrators, or protect his person from insult 
and abuse. All his property, both real and per- 
sonal, was seized upon and sequestered. The 
doleful account which the bishop gives of his cruel 
treatment in his ^ Hard Measure" cannot be 
read without indignant emotions against his merci- 
less oppressors. 

If it may be asked, What crime or offence could 
have induced them to treat a christian bishop in 
so oppressive and cruel a manner ? The answer 
is, he had been a strenuous advocate of episco- 
pacy, and of the church of England ; he had been 
loyal to the king, and a faithful friend of the con- 
stitution ; and had exposed by his excellent writ- 
ings the evils and mischiefs of factious parties. 

He was therefore harassed, sequestered, and 
abused most cruelly. Half a year's rents, and 
arrears of rents, which in compassion to his 



INSULTS. 



411 



tenants he had given them time to pay, were taken 
from him. An inventory of all his goods in and 
out of the palace was taken, even to a dozen of 
trenchers, and his children's pictures: even the 
wearing apparel of himself and family would have 
been appraised, had not two of the sequestrators, 
to whom he appealed, forbidden it. All his fur- 
niture, library, and goods would have been pub- 
licly sold, had not some friends bought them at a 
valuation, and so kindly left them to him, till he 
should have been able to repurchase them. A 
bond was given to the sequestrators to the full 
value of the books, which they were appraised at ; 
and it was paid out of that poor pittance of fifths 
allowed to his family. His synodals were for 
some time kept from him, and afterwards all the 
profits of the bishopric. He was several times 
insulted in his palace at unseasonable hours. 
Once, a London trooper, and others with him, 
came very early to the palace before the family 
were up, and threatened to break the gates, if 
they were not admitted. When he got entrance, 
he ransacked the whole house, under the pretence 
of searching for arms and ammunition. After 
having examined the chests, trunks, and vessels 
in the cellar, and finding only two muskets, he 
took away with him one of the bishop's two 
horses, when the venerable and aged prelate told 
him, " that his age would not allow him to travel 



412 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



on foot." When this trooper afterwards under- 
stood that the bishop sold the other horse, he 
highly expostulated with him for so doing. At 
another time the palace was beset by a mob, 
because he ordained some persons in his chapel 
contrary to the covenant, and so insolently sum- 
moned him to appear before the mayor. One while 
a whole rabble of volunteers came to his gates at 
a late hour, when they were locked up, demanding 
admittance, and threatening to break the gates. 
Some of them clambered over the walls, and 
wanted to go into the palace to search for delin- 
quents. These insolences, affronts, and many 
other hardships almost impossible to be enume- 
rated, Bishop Hall endured with astonishing 
patience and resignation. 

Parliament had agreed that £400. a year should 
be given towards the support of himself and 
family, in lieu of what they had deprived him of; 
but no care was taken for the payment of this 
money ; and when he applied to the committee in 
Norwich, and had it confirmed to him by them, 
an order was received from the superior committee 
in London, prohibiting this allowance ; but inform- 
ing the Norwich committee, that if the bishop's 
wife was necessitated for a maintenance, upon 
her suit to the lords and commons, it might be 
granted, that she should have a fifth part. Appli- 
cation was accordingly made, and, after a long 



FORTITUDE. 



413 



delay, the request was granted. But the accounts 
of those godly sequestrators were so confused, 
that it could not be said what a fifth was ; and 
" they were content that I should eat my books," 
says the bishop, " by setting off the sum engaged 
for them out of the fifth part." " Yet," says he 
again, " while I received nothing, something was 
required of me. They were not ashamed, after 
they had taken away and sold all my goods and 
personal estate, to come to me for assessments 
and monthly payments for that estate which they 
had taken ; and took distresses from me, upon 
my most just denial, and vehemently required me 
to find the wonted arms of my predecessors, when 
they had left me nothing." 

Bishop Hall published his Hard Measure about 
the latter end of May, 1647, which probably 
raised some commiseration in the hearts of those 
who had usurped the authority in church and 
state ; for this year some small favor was shewn 
to those bishops and others, who had lived peace- 
ably, and had been only spectators of the distract- 
ing miseries of their country. The committee 
was ordered to pay the £800. a year granted to 
Dr. Morton, bishop of Durham. Neal says that 
Bishop Hall's real estate was discharged, but 
Walker says, " I find indeed an order of Feb. 15, 
1647, for taking off the sequestration, (which 
doubtless was from his temporals only,) but I pre- 



414 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



sume it had just the same effect, (that is, just none 
at all) with the order for his pension of £400. per 
annum ; for his Hard Measure, wherein he so 
justly complains of his horrible oppression, bears 
date, May 29, following ; and he mentions not one 
word there of any thing restored to him."* 
Probably there was some lenity shewn him about 
this time, though his hardships were very great, 
which he bore with christian fortitude and 
patience. " I have heard him oft," says Whitefoot 
in his funeral sermon, "bewail the spoils of the 
church, but very rarely did he so much as mention 
his own losses, but took joyfully the spoiling of his 
goods." Archishop Usher had now an allowance 
of £400. a year, till he could be otherwise pro- 
vided for, and was soon after allowed to be a 
preacher at Lincoln's Inn, upon his taking the 
negative oath, f 



* See Neat's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iii, p. 394; and 
Walkers Sufferings of the Clergy, part ii, p. 56. 

t The negative oath was voted April 5, 1642. It ran thus : 
" I, A. B. do swear from my heart, that I will not, directly or 
indirectly, adhere unto or willingly assist the king iti this war, 
or in this cause against the parliament, nor any forces raised 
without consent of the two houses of parliament, in this cause 
or war. And I do likewise swear, that my coming and submit' 
ting myself under the power and protection of parliament, is 
without any manner of design whatsoever to the prejudice of the 
proceedings of this present parliament, and without direction, 
privity, or advice of the king, or any of his council or officers, 
other than I have made known. So help me God."&c. 



LAST DAYS. 



415 



At last Bishop Hall was driven out of his 
palace, without allowing him sufficient time to look 
out for another residence : though he requested 
the favour of hiring the palace, and Mrs. Hail 
offered to pay the rent out of the fifths allowed to 
her, yet so much favor would not be shewn to 
him ; he was turned out in three weeks' notice. 
Being thus dispossessed, " we might," says he, 
have lain in the street, for ought I know, had not 
the providence of God so ordered it, that a neigh- 
bour in the close, one Mr. Gostlin, a widower, was 
content to void his house for us." 

Afterwards the bishop and his family retired to 
a small estate, which he rented at Heigham, a 
hamlet in the western suburbs of Norwich, where 
he terminated his earthly pilgrimage, after all the 
outrages, persecutions, and hardships he endured 
in those turbulent times, and entered into that rest 
which remaineth for the people of God ; where the 
ivicked cease from troubling, and ivhere the iveary 
are at rest. The bishop's house is still existing, 
and is now a public house, whose sign is the 
Dolphin. It is an ancient house built of flint, near 
the church ; and has for about a century back 
been a public house. Bloomfield says it was not 
the bishop's private property, but hired. There 
are the dates of 1587 and 1615 on it. Initials, B. 
with a merchant's mark, and a coat of arms, 
three herons. During his retirement at Heigham, 



416 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



our good bishop spent the remainder of his 
days in doing all the good he could. He was 
ready on all occasions to preach in any of the 
churches in Norwich, as appears from several 
sermons still extant, " till he was first forbidden 
by men, and at last disabled by God." And 
when he could not preach as often, and as long as 
he was able, he was " as diligent a hearer as he 
had been a preacher ; how oft have we seen him," 
says Whitefoot, " walking alone, like old Jacob, 
with his staff', to Bethel, the house of God ! " 
When he was in the eightieth year of his age, he 
preached in Heigham church the forty-second 
sermon in the fifth volume of his Works, intitled, 
" Life a sojourning," on Sunday, July 1st, 1655, 
from 1 Pet. i, 17. If ye call on the Father, who, 
without respect of persons, judgeth according to 
every mans work, pass the time of your sojourning 
here in fear. The venerable and aged bishop on 
this occasion observed to his audience, that " it 
hath pleased the providence of my God so to 
contrive it, that this day, this very morning, 
fourscore years ago, I was born into the world. 
\ A great time since,' ye are ready to say : and so 
indeed it seems to you, that look at it forward ; 
but to me, that look at it past, it seems so short, 
that it is gone like a tale that is told, or a dream 
by night, and looks but like yesterday. It can 
be no offence for me to say, that many of you, 



LAST YEARS. 



417 



who hear me this day, are not like to see so many 
suns walk over your heads, as I have done. Yea, 
what speak I of this? There is not one of us, that 
can assure himself of his continuance here one 
day. We are all tenants at will ; and, for ought 
we know, may be turned out of these clay cottages 
at an hour's warning. Oh, then, what should we 
do, but, as wise farmers, who know the time of 
their lease is expiring and cannot be renewed, 
carefully and seasonably provide ourselves of a 
surer and more during tenure?" The minds of 
the audience could not fail to be impressed by 
such pertinent remarks from so venerable and aged 
a pastor: indeed, it was the bishop's endeavour in 
his last years to keep in view that house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens, and to prepare 
others for that change by his last writings and 
sermons, which particularly treated "upon the 
last things — death and judgment, heaven and 
hell." 

He spent much of his last years in devotion and 
meditation, lamenting the sufferings and calami- 
ties of church and state. Under all his sufferings, 
he distributed a weekly charity to a certain num- 
ber of poor widows out of the little which was 
left him. He observed also a weekly fast with 
his whole family, for the safety and preservation of 
the king's person, until his Majesty was murdered. 
During his last illness, he evinced extraordinary 

E e 



418 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



patience and submission to the Divine will. He 
was afflicted with violent and acute pains of 
the stone and strangury, which he bore most 
patiently, till death put an end to all his suf- 
ferings and troubles. It is said that he punc- 
tually foretold the night of his death, and accord- 
ingly gave orders for the time and manner of his 
funeral. He was gathered to his fathers in a good 
old age, dying Sept. 8th, J 656, in the eighty- 
second year of his age. In his will he bequeathed 
to the town where he was born, and to the city 
where he died, thirty pounds a-piece for the 
benefit of poor widows. By his will, also, he 
desired to be buried without any funeral pomp, 
at the discretion of his executors, with this only 
monition, That he did not hold God's house a 
meet repository for the dead bodies of the greatest 
saints.* From this clause it has been inferred 
that he was buried in the churchyard of Heigham: 
and from what we learn from his Works, how 
that he particularly disliked burials in churches ; 
especially from his sermon preached in the city of 



* His will thus begins: — " In the name of God, Amen. I, 
Joseph Hall, D.D. not worthy to be called Bishop of Norwich, 
&c. First, I bequeath my soul, &c. My body I leave to be 
interred, without any funeral pomp, at the discretion of my 
executors ; with tins only monition, that I do not hold God's 
house a meet repository for the dead bodies of the greatest 
saints." — Fuller's Worthies, vol. i, p. 566. 



BURIAL. 



419 



Exeter, at the consecration of a burial ground 
there, Aug. 24, 1637, it might be gathered that he 
would not have been buried in the church ; for he 
has very expressly and strongly pointed out in the 
above sermon, the impropriety of the practice of 
burying in churches.* But there is no doubt that 
he was buried in the chancel of Heigh am church, 
under the mural monument erected to his memory 
on the south-side wall. Over his grave or vault 
was a black marble stone, on which the Arms of 
the see of Norwich impaling H all's, surmounted 
by a mitre, are engraved, with the following 
inscription — 

INDUVLE JOSEPHI HALL 
OLIM NORVICENSIS 
ECCLESLE SERV1 
REPOSITjE 8° DTE MENSIS 
SEPTEMRRIS ANNO DOMINI 
1656 iETATIS SVJE 

ANNO 82° 
VALE LECTOR ET 
tETERNITATI 
PROSPICE. 

This stone was removed a few years since into 
the middle of the chancel, in consequence of a 
pew being erected over the bishop's grave. In 
excavating the adjoining ground in the month 
of January 1823, for the interment of the widow 
of a late rector, the side wall of the grave or 



* See Bishop Hall's Works, vol. v, p. 426. 
Ee 2 



420 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



vault 7 apparently of considerable solidity, was 
uncovered, and exactly corresponded to the 
former situation of the above stone. 

The mural monument, placed directly above 
the grave on the south wall, is of stone inter- 
mixed with black marble, of rather coarse work- 
manship. The pediment, in which it finishes, 
is surmounted with a mitre in relief, and the 
arms of Hall singly (Sable 3 Talbots' heads 
erased Arg.) are under the pediment. The 
principal feature of the monument is the figure 
of a skeleton executed in gilding on an arch- 
headed black marble tablet, which occupies the 
whole space from the pediment to a plinth at 
the bottom. The figure holds in its right hand 
a scroll with a seal attached to it, inscribed 
" Debemus Morti Nos Nostraque :" and in its 
left hand another scroll, from which a seal has 
been torn, inscribed " Persolvit et quietus est." 
On the tablet, between the legs of the figure, 
is engraved, — 

OBIIT 8 SEPTEM. ANO MRM CHRISTIANS 1656. JET. 
SILE 82. 

On the plinth of black marble is engraved, 

JOSEPHUS HALLUS OLIM HUILIS ECCLESLE SERVUS. 

Mrs. Hall died Aug. 27, 1652, and was buried 
in Heigham church : her tombstone is now 



DEATH OF HIS WIFE. 



421 



covered by pews against the south wall, and on 
it is the following inscription — 

M. S. 

ELIZABETH THE DEARE AND VERTUOUS 
CONSORT OF JOSEPH HALL B: N: WITH 
WHOM SHE COMFORTABLY LIVED 
FOURTY EIGHT YEARS CHANGED THIS 
MORTALL LIFE FOR AN ETERNALL, AUGUST 
27. 1652. IN THE YEAR OF HER AGE 69 
FAREWELL READER AND MIND 
ETERNITIE. 

Mr. John Hall, a son of Bishop Hall, was 
buried on the 12th of Feb. 1650.* Blomefield, in 
his history of Norfolk, under Heigham, not only 
mentions the inscribed tombstone of the bishops 
wife, but also of his son : but the latter does not 
now remain ; some years ago it was the stepping 
stone of a stile into the church yard. 

Bishop Hall had been the husband of one wife, 
" a grave, virtuous matron, with whom he lived 
forty-nine years." On occasion of her death he 
wrote his Tractate, entitled Songs in the Night, 
or Cheerfulness under Affliction. In the letter 
addressed to " a dear and worthy friend," prefixed 
to this Treatise, the bishop observes, " indeed, 
it pleased my God lately to exercise me with a 
double affliction at once ; pain of body, and 



* In Norwich cathedral there is a monument for Edward Hall, 
son of the bishop, who died young in 1642. — Vide Magna 
Britannia, vol. iii, p. 316. 



422 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



grief of mind for the sickness and death of ray 
dear consort. I struggled with them both, as 
I might ; and by God's mercy, attained to a 
meek and humble submission to that just and 
gracious hand, and a quiet composedness of 
thoughts: but yet, methought, 1 found myself 
wanting in that comfortable disposition of heart 
and lively elevation of spirit, which some holy 
souls have professed to feel in their lowest 
depression, fetching that inward consolation from 
heaven, which can more than counterpoise their 
heaviest crosses. Upon this occasion, you see 
here how I held lit to busy my thoughts, labour- 
ing by their holy agitation, to work myself, 
through the blesssng of the Almighty, to such 
a cheerful temper, as might give an obedient 
welcome to so smarting an affliction ; and, that 
even while I weep, I might yet smile upon the 
face of my heavenly Father, whose stripes I do 
so tenderly suffer. If in some other discourses 
I have endeavoured to instruct others, in this I 
mean to teach myself, and to win my heart to a 
willing and contented acquiescence in the good 
pleasure of my God, how harsh soever it seems 
to rebellious nature." In the seventh section of 
this excellent treatise, speaking of his heavy 
afflictions and los ses, the pious and aged bishop 
says, " Come then, all ye earthly crosses : and 
muster up all your forces against me. Here is 



DEATH OF HIS WIFE. 



423 



that, which is able to make me more than 
conqueror over you all." (He had spoken before 
of that blessed eternity which he wished to keep 
in view,) " Have I lost my goods, and fore- 
gone a fair estate ? Had all the earth been mine, 
what is it to heaven? Had I been the lord of 
all the world, what were this to a kingdom of 
glory? Have f parted with a dear consort; the 
sweet companion of my youth ; the tender nurse 
of my age : the partner of my sorrows, for these 
forty-eight years ? she is but stept a little before 
me to that happy rest, which I am panting 
towards; and wherein I shall speedily overtake 
her. In the mean time, and ever, my soul is 
espoused to that glorious and immortal husband, 
from whom it shall never be parted. Am I 
bereaved of some of my dear children, the sweet 
pledges of our matrimonial love ; whose parts 
and hopes promised me comfort in my declined 
age? Why am I not rather thankful it hath 
pleased my God, out of my loins to furnish 
heaven with some happy guests? Why do I not, 
instead of mourning for their loss, sing praises 
to God, for preferring them to that eternal 
blessedness? Am 1 afflicted with bodily pain 
and sickness, which banisheth ail sleep from my 
eyes, and exercises me with a lingering torture? 
Ere long, this momentary distemper shall end 
in an everlasting rest. Am I threatened by the 



424 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



sword of an enemy? Suppose that man to be 
one of the guardians of paradise, and that sword 
as flaming as it is sharp, that one stroke shall 
let me into that place of unconceivable pleasure, 
and admit me to feed on the tree of life for ever. 

" Cheer up, then, O my soul; and upon the 
fixed apprehension of the glory to be revealed, 
while thy weak partner, my body, droops and 
languishes under the sad load of years and 
infirmities, sing thou to thy God, even in the 
midnight of thy sorrows, and in the deepest 
darkness of death itself, songs of confidence, 
songs of spiritual joy, songs of praise and thanks- 
giving: saying, with all the glorified ones, — 
Blessing, honor, glory, and power, be unto Him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, 
for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. v, 13.* 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol, viii, ad Jin. 



CHAPTER XII. 



A VIEW OF THE CHARACTER OF BISHOP HALL, 
AND OF HIS WRITINGS. 

The character and mind of Bishop Hall are 
prominently delineated and pourtrayed in his 
admirable and numerous writings. Every atten- 
tive reader of his works will easily discover the 
humility of the christian, united with great talents, 
and extensive literary attainments. " He is 
universally allowed to have been a person of 
incomparable piety, meekness and modesty, a 
thorough knowledge of the world, and of great 
wit and learning." Richardson, in his edition of 
Godwin's De Presulibus, p. 444, gives the fol- 
lowing character of Bishop Hall: — " Vir return 
usu peritus, ingenio subtili et exer citato, eruditione 
multiplici instructus, nec interim minor erat modes- 
tine et indolis mansuetissimce laus" 

He was from his birth, in a peculiar manner, 
a child of providence ; and he tells us in the 
beginning of his " Account of Himself,"' that he 



426 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



noted the wonderful providence of God in all his 
ways " What I have done is worthy of nothing 
but silence and forgetfulness ; but what God 
hath done for me, is worthy of everlasting and 
thankful memory/' 

For his preferments and promotions in the 
church he was indebted to no patronage what- 
ever, but such as his own abilities, and eminent 
qualities, under Providence, procured him : by 
these he was introduced to the notice and pro- 
tection of Prince Henry; and, after the lamented 
death of that excellent prince, of his brother 
Charles I. In the several dedications prefixed 
to detached portions of his works, according to 
the custom of that age, he dwells with sincere 
and unaffected gratitude on the favors he received 
from his royal patrons, and he always mentions 
most gratefully the kindnesses of his other 
friends and patrons towards him. 

He was pious from his youth ; and being 
devoted by his parents to serve God in the sacred 
ministry, he particularly directed his studies to 
that end. He was so great a lover of study, 
that he earnestly wished his health would have 
allowed him a more unceasing application. The 
following extracts from a letter to his patron 
Lord Denny, exhibit to us his usual manner of 
study and of spending each clay. 

" Every day is a little life; and our whole life 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 



427 



is but a day repeated ; whence it is, that old 
Jacob numbers his lite by days; and Moses 
desires to be taught this point of holy arithmetic, 
to number not his years but his days. Those 
therefore that dare lose a day, are dangerously 
prodigal ; those that dare mispend it, desperate. 
We can teach others by ourselves : let me tell 
your Lordship how I would pass my clays, 
whether common or sacred ; and that you, or 
whosoever others over-hearing me, may either 
approve my thriftiness, or correct my errors. — 
When sleep is rather driven away than leaves 
me, I would ever awake with God. My first 
thoughts are for him: if my heart be early 
seasoned with his presence, it will savour of him 
all day after. While my body is dressing, not 
with an effeminate curiosity, nor yet with rude 
neglect; mv mind addresses itself to her ensuing 
task, bethinking what is to be done, and in what 
order, and marshalling, as it may, my hours with 
my work. That done, after some meditation, 
I walk up to my masters and companions— my 
books ; and sitting down amongst them, with 
the best contentment, I dare not reach forth my 
hand to salute any of them, till I have first 
looked up to heaven, and craved favor of him, 
to whom all my studies are duly referred: 
without whom, I can neither profit nor labor. 
After this, out of no over great variety, 1 call 



428 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



forth those, which may best fit my occasions; 
wherein I am not too scrupulous of age : some- 
times I put myself to school to one of those 
ancients, whom the church hath honoured with 
the name of Fathers ; whose volumes, I confess 
not to open, without a secret reverence of their 
holiness and gravity : sometimes, to those latter 
doctors, which want nothing but age to make 
them classical: — always to god's book. That 
day is lost, whereof some hours are not improved 
in those divine monuments : others I turn over, 
out of choice ; these out of duty. Ere I can have 
sat unto weariness, my family, having now over- 
come all household distractions, invites me to our 
common devotions ; not without some short pre- 
paration. These heartily performed, send me up 
with a more strong and cheerful appetite to my 
former work, which I find made easy to me by 
intermission and variety. One while mine eyes 
are busied ; another while my hand ; and some- 
times my mind takes the burden from them both. 
One hour is spent in textual divinity; another 
in controversy: histories relieve them both. When 
the mind is weary of other labours, it begins to 
undertake her own ; sometimes it meditates and 
winds up for future use : sometimes it lays forth 
her conceits into present discourse ; sometimes for 
itself, often for others. Neither know I whether 
it works or plays in these thoughts. I am sure 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 



429 



no sport hath more pleasure ; no work more use : 
only the decay of a weak body, makes me think 
these delights insensibly laborious. Before my 
meals and after, I let myself loose from all 
thoughts, and would forget that I ever studied. 
Company, discourse, recreations, are now season- 
able and welcome. I rise not immediately from 
my trencher to my book, but after some inter- 
mission. After my latter meal, my thoughts are 
slight; only my memory may be charged with 
the task of recalling what was committed to her 
custody in the day ; and my heart is busy in 
examining my hands and mouth, and all other 
senses, of that day's behaviour. The evening is 
come : no tradesman doth more carefully take in 
his wares, clear his shopboard, and shut his win- 
dows, than I would shut up my thoughts and clear 
my mind. That student shall live miserably, 
which, like a camel, lies down under his burden. 
All this done, calling together my family, we end 
the day with God. Such are my common days." 

This may be considered as a specimen of the 
habitual mode of Bishop Hall's employing his 
time. He proceeds to describe his way of spend- 
ing the sabbath day. " But God's day calls for 
another respect. The same sun arises on this 
day, and enlightens it : yet, because that Sun of 
Righteousness arose upon it, and gave a new life 
unto the world in it, and drew the strength of God's 



430 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



moral precept unto it; therefore, justly do we 
sing with the Psalmist, This is the day which the 
Lord hath made. Now, I forget the world , and, in 
sort, myself : and deal with my wonted thoughts, 
as great men use, who, at some times of their 
privacy, forbid the access of all suitors. Prayer, 
meditation, reading, hearing, preaching, singing, 
good conference, are the businesses of this day ; 
which I dare not bestow on any work or plea- 
sure, but heavenly. L hate superstition on the 
one side, and looseness on the other; but I find 
it hard to offend in too much devotion ; easy in 
profaneness. The whole week is sanctified by 
this day ; and according to my care of this, is my 
blessing on the rest." # 

For mildness and peaceable disposition, joined 
with candour, moderation, and charity, he was 
singular and exemplary : "in the distracted and 
distempered times" he lived, he laboured hard 
for peace among christians. " It was ever the 
desire of my soul," says he, " even from my first 
entrance upon the public service of the church, 
according to my known signature, with Noah's 
dove, to have brought an olive-branch to the 
tossed ark ; and God knows how sincerely I have 
endeavoured it : but, if my wings have been too 
short, and the wind too high for me, to carry it 



* Works, vol. vii, pp 254-256, 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 



431 



home, I must content myself with the conscience 
of my faithful devotions." # 

During the time of his presiding over the see 
of Exeter, for the space of about fourteen years, he 
was active and vigilant in reforming his numerous 
clergy, in correcting what was amiss, in promot- 
ing piety in general, and in suppressing and dis- 
countenancing all violent measures. He never 
molested any of his clergy for not complying with 
certain innovations then crept into the church; 
but, by his mild temper and active influence, 
succeeded in promoting the " general unanimity 
and loving correspondence" of his clergy. 

The superior manner in which he conducted 
himself against a host of the most violent assail- 
ants of the church, and of episcopal government, 
entitles him to the gratitude of posterity. Though 
he survived to see his sacred function proscribed, 
and his property and means of subsistence taken 
from him, he stood firm to the last extremity in 
defence of the church, contending for the best 
interests of his country. He was " one of the 
most worthy, able, and learned of the sons" of 
the Church of England, (as an eminent prelate 
observes) " who sealed his attachment by little 
less than martyrdom in her cause." f 



* Works, vol. viii, p. 43. 

f Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry'* Primary Charge, p. 11. 



432 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Well might Fuller say that " he may be said to 
have died with his pen in his hand ;" for after he 
was sequestered and silenced, he wrote and pub- 
lished several useful treatises even in his old age. 
In order to prepare men for the last change, his 
last books and his last sermons, as we have 
before observed, were all upon the last things ; — 
death and judg ment, heaven and hell. 

His long and useful life furnishes a variety of 
important incidents, highly interesting, instructive 
and edifying to the christian world. In his case 
we find that preferment to the highest dignities 
in the church had no influence to make him abate of 
his wonted industry and active zeal in the cause of 
truth. He has given to the world a good account 
of his time in his numerous and admirable Works, 
which have long praised him in the gate, and 
which will be held in due esteem, as long as 
genuine piety and true devotion command respect 
among mankind. 

He distinguished himself as a wit and a poet at 
an early period of his life ; for when he was about 
twenty- three years old, in the years 1597, 1598, 
he published his Satires, under the title of Virgi- 
demiarum,* in sixe Bookes. First three Bookes of 



* This uncontb and uncommon word signifies a Gathering, 
or Harvest of Rods, in reference to the nature of the subject. 
See Warton. 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 433 



Tooth-lesse Satyrs; 1. Poetical; 2. Academicall; 
3. Morall; printed by T. Creede, for R. Dexter, 
1597. The three last Bookes, of Byting Satyrs, 
by R. Bradock, for Dexter, 1598. Both parts 
were reprinted together in 1599, and first part in 
1602. Ritson, in his " Bibliographia Poetica," 
says that " Hall's Satires were stay'd at the press, 
by order of the archbishop of Canterbury and 
bishop of London : and such copys as could be 
found were to 4 bee presentlye broughte to the 
bishop of London to bee burnte.' " 

These Satires were republished at Oxford in 
1753, by the Rev. William Dodd, afterward D.D. 
or rather by the Rev. William Thompson, M.A. 
of Queen's college, Oxon,* as Read appears to 
have suggested to Dr. Farmer. His Satires have 
certainly conferred upon him a just claim to the 
appellation of one of the earliest and best satiric 
poets in England : they have been a model for 
succeeding English satirists ; and though he was 
not the first who attempted this species of poetry 
in England, it must be granted that he certainly 
was the first legitimate satirist of our country. 
It appears, however, from his Postscript, that he 



* This Oxford reprint of Bishop Hall's Satires, in 12mo. 
is a neat and excellent edition : but the last edition, 1824, 12mo. 
by Sir W. Singer, with Warton's Illustrations and additional 
Notes, is the best. 

F f 



434 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



had seen no English satires ; and only those of 
Ariosto and " one base French Satire," of modern 
writers ; therefore, in the opening of his Prologue, 
he tells us, — 

" I first adventure, with fool-hardy might, 
To tread the steps of perilous despigbt: 
I first adventure, follow me who list, 
And bee the second English Satyrist." 

He might justly pride himself in having given us 
the first example of genuine and legitimate satire. 
Upon the republication of the Virgidemiarum at 
Oxford in 1753, Gray, speaking of Hall's Satires 
in a Letter to Dr.Warton, says, " They are full 
of spirit and poetry; as much of the first as 
Dr. Donne, and far more of the latter.'* # 
Dr.Warton also, at the commencement of an 
elaborate and masterly analysis of, and criticism 
upon Halls Satires and poetic genius, which it is 
to be lamented is only a fragment, in his fourth 
volume of The History of English Poetry, gives 
the following character of these satires: " They are 
marked," he observes, " with a classical precision, 
to which English poetry had yet rarely attained. 
They are replete with animation of style and 
sentiment. The indignation of the Satirist is 
always the result of good sense. Nor are the 



* Mason's Gray, p. 224. 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 435 

thorns of severe invective unmixed with the 
flowers of pure poetry. The characters are 
delineated in strong and lively colouring, and 
their discriminations are touched with the mas- 
terly traces of genuine humour. The versifica- 
tion is equally energetic and elegant, and the 
fabric of the couplets approaches to the modern 
standard. It is no inconsiderable proof of a 
genius predominating over the general taste of an 
age, when every preacher was a punster, to have 
written verses, where laughter was to be raised, 
and the reader to be entertained with sallies of 
pleasantry, without quibbles and conceits. His 
chief fault is obscurity, arising from a remote 
phraseology, constrained combinations, unfamiliar 
allusions, elliptical apostrophes, and abruptness 
of expression. Perhaps some will think that his 
manner betrays too much of the laborious exact- 
ness and pedantic anxiety of the scholar and the 
student. Ariosto in Italian, and Regnier in 
French, were now almost the only modern 
writers of satire ; and I believe there had been 
an English translation of Ariosto's Satires. But 
Hall's acknowledged patterns are Juvenal and 
Persius, not without some touches of the urbanity 
of Horace. * His parodies of these poets, or 



* The First Satire of the Third Book strikingly resembles the 
Ff 2 



436 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



rather his adaptations of ancient to modern 
manners, a mode of imitation not unhappily 
practised by Oldham, Rochester, and Pope, 
discover great facility and dexterity of invention. 
The moral gravity and the censorial declamation 
of Juvenal, he frequently enlivens with a train of 
more refined reflection, or adorns with a novelty 
and variety of images." * 

Mr. Campbell is not deficient in a just estima- 
tion of the talents of this eminent divine and 
satirist: "in many instances," says he, "Hall 
redeems the antiquity of his allusions, by their 
ingenious adaptation to modern manners: and 
this is but a small part of his praise ; for in the 
point, and volubility, and vigour of Hall's num- 
bers, we might frequently imagine ourselves 
perusing Dry den." See Specimens, &c. vol. ii, 
pp. 256-261. 

In the third Satire of his fifth Book, Hall 
exhibits the true design of this kind of poetry; 
and, as his editor, Mr. Pratt, justly remarks, 
" laments at the same time, the untempered 
genius of his age ; which, while it encouraged 
the graces and subdued imagination of classic 



Sixth Satire of Juvenal. It exhibits a forcible contrast of the 
temperance and simplicity of former ages, with the luxury and 
effeminacy of the Poet's own times. 

* Vide Chalmers English Poets, vol. v, p. 226. 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 437 

elegance, could not brook its bolder and more 
nervous efforts." It begins thus : 

" The Satyre should be like the porcupine, 

That shoots sharp quilles out in each angry line, 
And wounds the blushing cheeke and fiery eye, 
Of him that heares and readeth guiltily. 
Ye antique Satyres, how I blesse your daies, 
That brook'd your bolder still, their own dispraise; 
And weli-neare wish, yet joy my wish is vaine, 
I had beene then, or they were now againe ! 
For now our eares beene of more brittle mold. 
Than those dull earthen eares that were of old : 
Sith theirs, like anvilles, bore the hammer's head, 
Our glasse can never touch unshivered." 

His " last Book and Satire is a humorous and 
ironical recantation of the former satires ; as the 
author here pretends there can be no just ground 
for one in such times as his own. In one part 
he glances at the sorry poets of his time, and 
makes some terse allusions to poets of a former 
day. Afterwards, when enumerating some of 
the festive tales of our ancestors, he gives a close 
and spirited imitation from Juvenal : and closes 
the whole by a few remarks on the prevailing 
dialect of poetry, with a vigour of fancy scarcely 
rivalled by the tinest poets of his time."* The 
following lines form part of it : 

" Was never age 1 weene so pure as this ! 

****** 

Seeke over all the world, and tell mee where 
Thou find'st a proud man, or a flatterer; 



Sat. I, b. vi. Note. 



438 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



A theefe, a drunkard, or a parricide, 
A lechour, Iyer, or what vice beside. 
Marchants are no whit covetous of late, 
Nor make no mart of time, gaine of deceit, 
Patrons are honest now, ore they of old ; 
Can now no benefice be boughte or sold." 

The Satires of Hall exhibit a very minute and 
curious picture of the literature and manners, the 
follies and vices of his times; they amply prove 
the wit, the sagacity, and the elegance of his 
Muse. Poetry was the occupation merely of 
his youth ; the vigour and decline of his days 
were employed in the composition of professional 
works, calculated by their piety, eloquence, and 
originality, to promote, in the most powerful 
manner, the best interests of true religion and 
morality.* 

Though he more particularly exercised his 
poetical genius in his youthful years, yet at one 
period he intended to make a poetical version 
of the Book of Psalms, and signified his intention 
to his relative, the Rev. Samuel Burton, arch- 
deacon of Gloucester, and to his friend the Rev. 
Hugh Cholmley, requesting their judgment of 
his design, and intimating his readiness to pro- 
ceed in the work, provided he met with due 
encouragement from those in authority. He 



t Vide Dr. Drake's Shakspeare and his Times, vol. i, part 2, 
chap, iv, p. 627. Mr. Pope said high things of Hall's Satires. 
See Granger's Biog. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 157, 8vo. 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 



439 



says that he had been solicited by some reverend 
friends to undertake this task, as well according 
with the former exercises of his youth and his 
profession. However, he only proceeded as far 
as the ten first Psalms : but this specimen shews 
that he was very capable of the undertaking.* 

The prose works of Bishop Hall are written 
in such a style of eloquence, as justly entitles 
him to a place amongst our best authors; but 
the distance of nearly two centuries since he 
wrote has necessarily occasioned some of his 
phrases to appear rather obsolete. 

A judicious writer of his own times, Sir Henry 
Wotton, in his letter to Dr. Collins, distinguished 
him by the name of the English Seneca, for the 
pureness, plainness, and fulness of his style. 
He might have proceeded further, and might 
have denominated him the English Chrysostom. 
Fuller, in his "Worthies," describes him as " not 
unhappy at Controversies, more happy at Com- 
ments, very good in his Characters, better in his 
Sermons, best of all in his Meditations ." f 

The practical works of Bishop Hall have been 
always held in great esteem by the Christian 
world : many of his works are not only eminently 



* See his Works, vol. x, p. 259; vii, p. 157. 

t Worthies of England, vol. i, p. 566, 4to. ed. 1811. 



440 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



practical and devotional, but also contain much 
biblical criticism and general literature. 

His contemplations are acknowledged in- 
comparably excellent and valuable, both for 
style, criticisms, and genuine piety. In the 
compilation of these admirable productions, the 
bishop seems to have consulted all the most 
eminent commentators and interpreters of the 
Sacred Writings then extant, and appropriately 
to have introduced their best remarks and obser- 
vations in the most pleasing, elegant, yet unaf- 
fected and simple manner. Now and then some 
passages, from the peculiarity of his style, and 
distance of time, may appear abstruse or obscure 
to common readers ; but a degree of close 
attention will be well repaid in comprehending 
his meaning, which will generally be worth some 
pains to be acquainted with. 

His contemplations, he tells us, are the 
substance of sermons : " The reader may be 
pleased to understand, that my manner hath still 
been, first to pass through all these Divine 
Histories by way of sermons ; and then after, to 
gather the quintessence of those larger discourses 
into these forms of meditations which he sees."* 

The contemplations, being the substance 
and abridgments of the sermons of this eminent 



* Pishop Hall's Works, vol. ii, p. 366. 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 441 



prelate, are not only particularly useful to chris- 
tian ministers, wherein they will find such a 
variety of remarks and observations, as cannot 
fail to afford important assistance for the pulpit, 
and prove highly edifying to an audience ; but, 
through the divine blessing, they may be very 
useful and profitable to all serious readers, whose 
delight and meditation is in the word of God. 

The subjects of Bishop Hall, and his manner 
of treating them, will be approved by christians 
of all denominations ; for none of the low and 
little bigotry of a party, nothing of the narrow 
spirit and prejudice of a sect, is to be perceived 
here. True genuine Christianity shines here in 
its native lustre and simplicity. The truth 
appears in a beauty, which must captivate 
the most prejudiced and enslaved to particular 
sentiments or opinions. His contemplations 
are so excellent in their kind, so entertaining, 
and breathe a spirit of universal benevolence, 
which is equally averse to bigotry and enthusiasm, 
and knows no master but Christ, and obeys no 
law but love. # 

The following testimonies to the excellencies 
of Bishop Hall are highly interesting. The pious 
and eloquent Hervey, speaking of his Works, 



* Dr.Dodd's Preface to his Edition of Bishop Hall's Contera 
plations, 2 vols. 12mo. 



442 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



says, " where the reader will find a happy mix- 
ture of true oratory and sound divinity ; a rich 
vein of fancy, and a sweet spirit of piety; 
Contemplations upon the Histories of Scripture 
(which I think are our prelate's master-piece) 
almost as entertaining and instructive, as the 
subjects illustrated are important and wonderful. 
Notwithstanding a few stiff or antique phrases, 
I cannot but esteem the works of this author 
among the most valuable compositions extant in 
our language.'* # Dr. Doddridge (a no mean 
judge) says of his contemplations, that they 
" are incomparably valuable for language, criti- 
cisms, and devotion characterises the bishop 
as " pious, moderate, and eloquent; ' and observes 
that, " allowing something for the peculiarities of 
the age in which he lived, he had met with no 
devotional writings on the historical part of 
Scripture, which have generally given him so 
much entertainment as his, particularly his 
Contemplations. "t 

His Paraphrase upon the hard texts of the 
whole scriptures, is highly esteemed: Dr. Dod- 
dridge pronounces these expository notes to be 



* Hervey's Theron and Aspasio, Dial. viii. — Works, 8vo. 
Ed. 1797, vol. ii, p. 288. Note. 

t Doddridge's Lectures ©n Preaching. His Family Expositor, 
sec. lxxxv. Note. 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 



443 



" very valuable, especially for shewing the spirit 
and force of many expressions that occur." 
Most of them, if not all, are inserted in the 
valuable commentary of Bishop Mant, and Dr. 
D'Oyly, published under the sanction and pat- 
ronage of the venerable Society for Promoting 
Christian Knowledge.* The late Rev. Thomas 
Scott made much use of Bishop Hall's Contem- 
plations and notes in his invaluable commentary. 

As a preacher, Bishop Hall was popular, 
ingenious, eloquent, and devout. His sermons 
possess uncommon merit : they rank high both 
for matter and language : even his sermons at 
court indicate singular faithfulness, and a great 
benevolence of heart. They are interspersed 
with interesting anecdotes, brilliant allusions, and 
happy illustrations. The doctrines which he 
taught in the pulpit, and in his admirable Works, 
were the doctrines of Christian verity, contained 
in the articles and homilies of the church, of 
which he was so great an ornament. His Works 
may be well classed among those which give us a 
fair specimen of the doctrines of the church of 
England. He was a true and " a dutiful son of 
the church." His sentiments were decidedly 
evangelical, and, as they are discovered in his 



* Vide Home's Introduction, vol, ii, p. 831. 



444 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



Works, may be considered as a fair and ample 
exhibition of the doctrines of our church. 

His meditations, may be enumerated among 
the best of his writings : herein, according to 
Fuller, he excels. Such appears to have been 
the habitual piety of his mind, that every object, 
and the most common occurence or incident, 
afforded him a subject or matter for spiritual 
improvement, or religious and moral application. 
In this he copied and imitated the example of his 
Divine Master. The meditations, aphorisms, 
and maxims of persons remarkable for their learn- 
ing, wisdom, and piety, have always been con- 
sidered as ranking high among the most select 
treasures of literature. Those of Bishop Hall have 
been esteemed the most valuable, both for the 
importance of their instruction, spirituality, and 
the energetic style in which they are written. 
The following interesting account of Bishop 
Hall's Meditations is given by the Rev. Robert 
Hall, the bishop's eldest son: "The expres- 
sions of these voluntary and sudden thoughts 
of his, shall testify how faithfully he is wont to 
improve those short ends of time, which are stolen 
from his more important avocations. Thus, 
methinks, we should still be climbing up in our 
thoughts, from earth to heaven ; and suffer no 
object to cross us in our way, without some spiri- 
tual use and application. Thus it pleased my 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 445 



Reverend Father, sometimes to recreate himself ; 
whose manner it hath been, when any of these 
meditations have unsought offered themselves 
unto him, presently to set them down."* 

"The intent of this labour," says the bishop 
himself, " is to put some good thoughts, Reader, 
into thy mind; such as I hope may not a little 
further thee on thy journey to heaven. And if, 
in my labouring thitherward, I shall, through 
God's mercy, bee a means of forwarding any soul, 
but some steps up that steep way, how happy am 
I! To which purpose, I know no means more 
effectual, than those Meditations, which conduce 
to the animation and vigour of Christian practice : 
it must be true contrition, pure consciences, holy 
affections, heavenly dispositions, hearty devotions, 
sound regeneration, faith working by love, an 
humble walking with God, that shall help us into 
heaven; and whatsoever may tend to the advancing 
of any of these gracious works in us, is worthy 
to be dear and precious."! 

It may be farther said respecting his Medita- 
tions, that the remarks and observations con- 
tained in them are generally very striking ; and 
throughout they exhibit fervent piety, and much 



* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. vi, p. 104. 
f Ibid, p. 245. 



446 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



originality of thought. It has been said that 
Bishop Hall seems to have imitated Augustine and 
Seneca in their style ; if that be true, he has done 
so more particularly in his Meditations. 

His other devotional writings are equally val- 
uable, spiritual, and edifying: they discover 
throughout the Christian experience and heavenly- 
mind edness of the author. 

His epistles exhibit a pleasing specimen of 
his spirit and manner : they unfold his mind and 
heart : and they are particularly interesting for the 
remarks upon men and things, cases of conscience, 
and the occurrences of his times. 

In his controversial writings he has invari- 
ably manifested the charity and moderation of 
the real Christian : innumerable traces of the 
benignity and gentleness of his disposition are 
apparent. He was very zealous against popery, 
and no less so against those who separated from 
the church without extreme necessity. He feel- 
ingly lamented the divisions of protestants, and 
wrote some tractates with a view of putting an 
end to them. The several controversial pieces 
against those dissenting ministers, quaintly styled 
Smectymnuus, " are written in a very handsome, 
lively, and witty manner: but his adversaries too 
much distinguished themselves by a peculiar 
fierceness of spirit, and asperity of language: they 
wrote with confidence, like persons supported by 



CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 447 



the secular arm, and who could depend upon 
stronger and more irresistible arguments than 
those upon paper." # 

He has composed some treatises and pieces in 
Latin, which are written in a very elegant, pure, 
and classical style. Of these, the Sermon intitled 
" Columba Noae," and " Inurbanitati Pontificiae 
Responsio,"were translated by the Rev. Rob. Hall, 
the bishop's son. But his admirable treatise enti- 
tled " Henochismus," carelessly and inaccurately 
translated by the Rev. Henry Brown, vicar of 
N ether Sevell, has been revised throughout, and 
brought nearer to the original by the Rev. Josiah 
Pratt. But the curious treatise entitled " Mun- 
dus alter et idem," I. e. The world different, yet 
the same, has never yet been given in a suitable 
English dress. There has never been but one 
translation of it by John Healey, a copy of which 
is now of very rare occurrence. The Rev. Josiah 
Pratt did intend to give a translation of it, taking 
the singular and humorous version of Healey as 
the ground work : " but he found the translator 
so often degenerating into ribaldry, and the origi- 
nal to require so much delicacy and elucidation, 
that he abandoned the design ; not without hopes 
that some person of leisure and ability may be 



* Middleton's Biog. Evangel. voU iii, p. 356. 



448 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL* 



induced to give this fine piece of irony a suitable 
English dress." In this singular treatise, Hall, 
under an agreeable fiction, satirises and ridicules 
the vicious manners of several nations. It is to 
be regretted that so excellent a piece of satire 
and irony should be nearly inaccessible to the 
English reader. 

The Works of Bishop Hall were first collected 
by the Rev. Josiah Pratt, B.D. and published in 
ten volumes 8vo, in 1808. This edition is very 
correctly printed, is arranged and revised with 
much judgment and accuracy, and is also illus- 
trated with occasional notes, table of contents, 
glossary, and a copious index to the whole. 

The ingenious and acute Dr. Ferriar has excited 
a degree of attention to the Contemplations of 
Bishop Hall, among critics, by detecting the 
plagiarisms of Sterne, who has stolen hints and 
remarks from Hall, Burton, and Rabelais, without 
any acknowledgment. See Dr. Ferriar's Illustra- 
tions of Sterne, 8vo. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



ON PURITANISM. 

It is thought proper here to give a short sketch 
of the history of Puritanism, and to shew that all 
who were denominated Puritans from the time of 
Queen Elizabeth to the usurpation, were not sepa- 
ratists or dissenters from the church of England; 
but in many instances, true and attached friends 
of the church. From the account of some histo- 
rians, it may appear as if all the puritans were 
dissenters. This was far from being the case: 
many of the puritans kept in the church to the 
last; indeed the most eminent of them for learning, 
piety, and usefulness, did not separate. 

Though the reformers were of one faith, yet 
they were far from agreeing about discipline ; 
while one party was disposed only to withdraw 
from the church of Rome no further than was 
necessary to recover the purity of the faith, and 
the independency of the church, looking upon 
rites and ceremonies as indifferent, and non- 



450 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



essential; others were for relinquishing all kinds 
of riles and ceremonies, and for adopting as a 
model, the plan of the Genevan church. This 
latter party separated when the act of Uniformity 
was rigorously executed in Queen Elizabeth's 
time. 

Many of those, who did separate then, were 
neither peaceable nor judicious: when they found 
they could not reduce the church to their own 
narrow model, they conferred with their friends 
about a separation from the church, and agreed, 
" That it was their duty in their present circum- 
stances to break off from the public churches, 
and to assemble as they had opportunity in private 
houses, or elsewhere, to worship God in a manner 
that might not offend against their consciences." 

This was the first separation from the church of 
England ; and it was as much owing to the 
weakness and want of judgment in the separatists, 
who could believe those things to be sinful, upon 
which the scriptures were silent, and expected 
the majority to give way to the humour of a few; 
as to the rigour and intemperate zeal of the ruling 
powers in imposing and pressing indifferent rites 
and ceremonies with too much severity. * 

Those, who refused to subscribe the liturgy, 



Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii f pp. 436, 437. 



ON PURITANISM. 



451 



ceremonies, and discipline of the church, in the 
year 1563, and the fifth of Queen Elizabeth, were 
branded with the name of Puritans; because they 
aimed at a purer form of discipline and worship, 
as they imagined, than that which was yet 
established. 

" But profane mouths," says Fuller, " quickly 
improved this nic-name therewith on every occa- 
sion to abuse pious people, some of them so far 
from opposing the liturgy, that they endeavoured, 
according to the instructions thereof in the pre- 
parative to the confession, " to accompany the 
minister with a pure heart," and laboured, as it 
is in the absolution, for a life pure and holy.*" 

A puritan, therefore, was not necessarily a non- 
conformist, but one who endeavoured in his devo- 
tions to accompany the minister with a pure 
heart, and was remarkable and singular for 
holiness of heart and life. In the reigns of James 
I. and Charles I. if a man, though a conscientious 
churchman, kept the sabbath, and frequented 
sermons, if he maintained family religion, and 
would neither swear nor get drunk, nor comply 
with the fashionable vices of the times, he was 
immediately stigmatized with the name of a 
Puritan. 



* Church Hist. b. ix, p. 76. 
G g 2 



452 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



When the infamous declaration for sports on the 
Lord's day was published, the clergy and people, 
who were averse to such profanation of the 
sabbath, and discountenanced vice and immo- 
rality, were branded with the name of Puritans ; 
thus it is evident that the term Puritans, was a 
general term of reproach cast on all who lived 
soberly, righteously, and godly ; and did not more 
belong to pious dissenters than to pious church- 
men. Every reader of the civil and ecclesiastical 
history of the period from Queen Elizabeth, to the 
restoration of Charles II. should keep this in 
view; for some writers have so represented the 
puritans as being all dissenters from the church of 
England. This is a great error, and should be 
guarded against. 

One prominent trait in the character of the 
puritans, whether churchmen or dissenters, was 
an adherence to the doctrinal Articles of the 
church of England, in the sense of the compilers ; 
and also a strong aversion to popery. Many of 
them became great sufferers for their not complying 
with some rites and ceremonies urged upon them 
by the rulers of the church. Though there were 
men eminent for their piety among the puritans, 
and were upright, sincere, and genuine christians, 
yet during the long parliament and the usurpation, 
many men of bad principles sheltered themselves 
under the name of puritans, with the view of 



ON PURITANISM. 



453 



accomplishing more effectually the ruin of the 
constitution in church and state. 

It must be acknowledged that numbers of the 
puritan divines sided with the parliament, among 
whom were some superlatively eminent for litera- 
ture, as Selden, Lightfoot, Cudworth, Pocock, 
Witchcots, Arrowsmith ; but among all the 
bishops and clergy who espoused the cause of 
the king, were also men of the first rank for 
learning, politeness, piety, and probity of manners, 
as Usher, Hall, Moreton, Westfield, Brownrigge, 
Prideaux, Hammond, Saunderson, &c. 

We must not presume that all who were called 
puritans were really pious and good men; for 
undoubtedly there were among them hypocrites 
and infamous characters : the best of them were 
not without their failings, for they were men of 
like passions and infirmities with others; and 
while many of them endeavoured to avoid one 
extreme, they fell into another. The behaviour 
of many of them was severe and rigid, far removed 
from the fashionable liberties and vices of the 
age. But in general they were the most pious 
and devout people in the land : they were men 
of prayer, both in secret and public, as well as in 
their families : their manner of devotion was 
fervent and solemn, depending on the assistance 
of the Divine Spirit not only to teach them horn 
to pray, but what to pray for as they ought 



454 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



They had a profound reverence for the holy 
name of God, and were utterly averse not only 
to profane swearing, but to " foolish talking and 
jesting which are not convenient." They were 
strict observers of the Lord's day, spending the 
whole of it in acts of public and private devotion. 
It was the distinguished characteristic of a 
puritan in those times, to see him going to church 
twice a day with his bible under his arm. While 
others were at plays, interludes, revels, sports, 
and diversions, on the Sunday evenings, the 
puritans with their families were employed in 
reading the Scriptures, singing psalms, catechizing 
their children, repeating sermons, and in prayer. 
Thus the puritans, many of whom were faithful 
friends of the church, were accustomed to spend 
the Lord's day. They had also their hours of 
family devotion on the week days, and considered 
it their duty to take care of the souls as well as 
the bodies of their domestics. They were cir- 
cumspect as to all excesses in food and raiment ; 
abstemious in lawful diversions; industrious in 
their respective avocations ; honest and exact in 
their dealings ; and solicitous to give every one 
his own* 

During the troubles of the times on account 



* Vide Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. i, p. 512. 



ON PURITANISM. 



455 



of the differences between Charles h and the 
parliament, puritanism, in one sense, was pro- 
ductive of much good ; the reformation of man- 
ners was then very remarkable. The laws 
against vice and profaneness were so strict, and 
so vigorously put in execution, that vice was 
forced to hide itself in corners. The magistrates 
did their duty in suppressing all kind of games, 
stage plays, and abuses in public-houses. There 
was not a play acted on any theatre in England 
for almost twenty years. Profane swearing, 
drunkenness, or any kind of debauchery, were 
not to be heard or seen in the streets. The 
Lord's day was observed with unusual reverence : 
the churches were crowded with numerous and 
attentive hearers, three or four times in the day. 
The peace officers patroled the streets of Lon- 
don; and all the public-houses were shut up: 
there was no travelling on the road, or walking 
in the fields, except in cases of absolute necessity, 
Religious exercises were set up in private families, 
as reading the Scriptures, family prayer, repeat- 
ing sermons, and singing of psalms. This was 
so general a custom, that, we are told, a person 
might walk through the city of London on the 
evening of the Lord's day, without seeing an idle 
person, or hearing any thing but the voice of 
prayer or praise from churches and private houses. 
It is also said, that there was hardly a single 



456 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



bankruptcy to be heard of in a year ; and that 
even in such a case, the bankrupt had a mark 
of infamy set upon him that he could never 
wipe off. 

Some historians have described and represented 
the religion of those times to be no otherwise 
than hypocrisy and dissimulation; and that a 
vast portion of people made the form of godliness 
a cloak to iniquity and dishonesty: undoubtedly 
there was then too much hypocrisy, as there is 
at all times, and many covered their abominable 
practices with the cloak of an outward profes- 
sion of religion.— Most probably hypocrisy and 
hidden immorality were the prevailing sins of 
those times. It was the fashion of the day to 
appear religious ; and so, under the mask of 
religion, the most infamous crimes were com- 
mitted. But it cannot be denied, that there was 
a large portion of people, both churchmen and 
dissenters, who were sincerely religious and 
devoutly pious.* 

Bishop Hall, and others of his order, for their 
eminent piety, were reproached as being puri- 
tanically inclined : so it has always been that 
the scandal of the cross is perpetually attached 
to all, whether they hold eminent or humble 



* Vide Rushworth, vol. ii, part 3, p. 1. Neal, vol. ii, p. 
553. Ibid. 555, vol. iv, pp. 268, 269. 



ON PURITANISM. 



457 



stations in the church of Christ. Real Christians, 
in the days of Bishop Hall, were denominated 
Puritans, a name derived from purity, as it 
has been before observed: in the present day 
evangelical is the term of reproach, a name 
derived from the christian ministers being desirous 
to do the work of evangelists; see 2 Tim. iv, 5. 
Though worldly men may give the term evan- 
gelical to religious persons as a name of reproach, 
it is certainly an honourable appellation. Another 
usual name of religious reproach in these days 
is Methodist; a term used at Oxford, and 
derived from the method which some pious stu- 
dents observed in employing their time. The 
term is now applied to every person of real and 
sincere piety, and may almost be considered as 
another term for a christian.* 

Many christian ministers of the present day are 
distinguished and stigmatized by the name of 
evangelical, or methodistical, because they adhere 
closely to the standard of Scripture, of the 
Liturgy, Articles, and Homilies of our church; 
and because they make a full proof of their 
ministry. Had Bishop Hall lived in these days, 
he would have been held " in great jealousy for 
too much favour of" evangelism, as he was " of 



* See Dr.C. Buchanan's Sermons, pp. 58, 59. Note. 



458 



LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 



puritanism:" but Bishop Hall may, with the 
greatest propriety, be considered as exhibiting in 
lv wb-le life and writings a fair specimen of w hat 
a bishop aud a minister of the church of England 
should be: — he was strictly canonical and con- 
sistent — a strenuous maintainer of christian god- 
liuess and christian order — a genuine son of the 
church, who lived and preached the doctrines of 
our Liturgy, Articles, and Homilies. 



FINIS. 



APPENDIX. 

m ■ 



BISHOP HALL'S 
LETTERS TO ARCHBISHOP USHER. 



No. I. 

TO THE MOST REVEREND JAMES USHER, ARCHBISHOP 
OF ARMAGH. 

Gratulor vero ex animo, te Antistitum decus, 
Saneto Ignatio tuo : Gratulor tibi imo, universo 
orbi Christian©, Ignatium, meritissimo tuum; 
sed quidem et tuo beneficio nostrum ? Gratiorem 
profecto operam navare Dei Ecclesiae nullus 
nnquam potuisset quam tan turn, tarn antiquum 
sanctumque Apostolicae vfo<rra<riec$ patronum, ac 
tam egregium primaevae pietatis exemplar ab 
injuria temporis vindicando. Inciderat nempe 
bonus iste viator Hierosolymitanus in Latrones 
quosdam Hierochuntinos, qui ilium non spolia- 
rant modo, sed misere etiam peneque ad mortem 
vulnerarant; prseterierant saucium ac fere mori- 
bundum, nescio quot Parkeri, Coci, Salmasii, 
aliique nuperae secta3 coryphaei; vestra vero 



462 



APPENDIX. 



(molliora uti sunt) viscera tam dura hominis 
*fro: sou sorte raisericorditer commota sunt; vestra 
unius pietatis (optimi instar Samaritae) vinum 
oleumque infudit tarn patentibus vulneribus, 
abstersit saniem, foedeque hiulca plagarum ora, 
manu tenera fasciavit ; fereque exauimem vestro 
typorum jumento imposuit; ac communi denique 
Ecclesiae hospitio, non sine maximis impensis, 
commendavit. Profecto hoc uno nomine assur- 
gent Amplitudini tuse boni (quotquot sunt) 
omnes ; manusque tam salutares piis labiis exos- 
culabuntur. Intelligent jam novitise paritatis 
assertores quid illud sit quod tanto molimine 
usque machinantur, sentientque quam probe 
illis cum sanctissimo Martyre, ac celeberrimo 
Apostolorum Discipulo conveniat. Illud vero, 
inter Doctissimas Annotationes vestras saliente 
et corde et occulo legisse me fateor, quo egre- 
gium illud crpa^a Salmasianum de tempore sup- 
positicii Ignatii, leni ilia quidera, sed castigatrice 
manu corripueris : Fieri ne potuit ut tantus 
author in re tanti momenti Chronologica, tam 
fcede laberetur, aut num forte, hoc pacto, (quan- 
doquidem hasc causae disciplinarian Arx merito 
habeatur) dominis suis palpum obtrudere maluit ? 
Quicquid sit, bis Martyrium passus Ignatius 
noster; tua demum opera Praesul honoratissime, 
reviviscit; causamque iniquissime jam abdicatae 



APPENDIX. 



463 



tmmowns in Ecclesiae totius foro tara catk agit, 
ut non pudere non possit hesieruae Disciplinae 
astipulatores, tarn male-suscepti, litis injustae 
patrocinii. Quod si nullum aliud foret nostrae 
sententiae propugnaculum, nobis quid em abunde 
sufficeret habuisse {aw ®eco) nostras veritatis patro- 
nos, te et Ignatium. Vale Primatutn a^ovofjuurre 
et Ecclesiae laboranti, et precibus, et operis 
(quod facis) subvenire perge, et fave, 

Cultori tuo, ac malorum tuorum 
Socio, et praeconi Meritorum, 

E Tuguriolo Nostro Highamensi, JOS NO Ii V I C JE N S I 

Mali 25, 1647. 



No. II. 



TO THE MOST REVEREND JAMES USHER, ARCHBISHOP 
OF ARMAGH. 

SALUTEM IN CHR1STO. 

Grata! admodum et maim et mente accepi 
heri, Primatum Reverendissime, a manibus Hono- 
randi plurimum Episcopi Dunelmensis, literas 
tuas, sed et donaria longe pretiosissima, libros 
tuos : Deus bone ! quam elaboratos quam recon- 
ditiore literatura refertos quos stupebunt exteri, 
gratulabunturque authori felicitatem hanc et otii 
et eruditionis : Nostri vero quo tandem non 
possunt non erubescere, tantum virum neglectui 
habuisse ? At, O te omni et invidia et tyrannide 
superiorem; quem divinior mens supra terrena 
quaeque ita longe extulit, ut ingratissimi aevi sive 
incuriam sive contemptum nihil quicquam ad te 
pertinere sentias : Illud tibi unum cura3 est ut 
bene merearis : Ilicet hoc animo resides in 
obscuro Lincolniensis Hospitii angulo, qui totius 



APPENDIX. 



465 



Occidentis Patriarchatu dignissimum te praes- 
titisti. 

Mihi vero homini pauperculo quid tandem 
suppetit quod munificentiae tuae retribnam ? Ex- 
ciderat mihi pridem opella quaedam, ita quidem 
minutula, ut me plane puduerit ejusmodi stre- 
nulam tanto paesuli obtulisse ; tandem tamen eo 
prorupi audaciae, ut id facerem : Tu pro singulari 
candore tuo ignosces erroribus quibusque sive 
scriptiunculae, sive authoris ; qui se 

Reverendissimae Paternitatis vestrae 

clientem profitetur devotissimum 

E Tugurio meo Highamensi, JQC NOR VIC 

Febr. 26, 1647-8. vx* v xv/. 



Hh 



No. III. 



ARCHBISHOP USHER'S LETTER TO 
BISHOP HALL. 



TO THE RIGHT REV. JOSEPH HALL, BISHOP OF 
NORWICH. 

Admodum Reverendo in Christo Patri, Fratri- 
que charissimo D. Josepho Hallo, Norwicensi 
Episcopo. 

Quem tui in rne amoris et judicii (Antistes 
optirae) fructum ceperim; Ignatiana Appendix 
ista declarabit : ad quam perficiendam, et in 
lucem proferendam majorem mihi animum quam 
unquam habuissem, elegantissimas et suavissimas 
tuas ad me literas dedisse, non possum non 
agnoscere. Cum ea mitto et de Fidei Symbolis 
Diatribam, et de Macedonum atque Asianorum 
anno dissertatiunculam; non alio a te aestimandas 
pretio, quam quod profectse sunt a 

Fratre tuo amantissimo et 
cultore summo 

Lond. vii" Kalend. 

Marti<ts,An.M»cxLYii. JACOBO USSERIO Armachano, 



No. IV. 



TO THE MOST REVEREND JAMES USHER, ARCHBISHOP 
OF ARMAGH. 

Accepi a te pridem, Honorandissime Praesul, 
munus egregium, teque uno dignum, Annales 
sacros Veteris Testamenti accuratissime digestos. 
Non enim mihi traditum est volumen, quam 
oculi inei in tam gratum, diuque expetitum opus 
irruerint illico, neque se exinde avelli patiuntur. 

Obstnpui sane indefessos Labores, industriam 
incredibilem, reconditissimae eruditionis monu- 
menta, quse se istic passim vel supino lectori 
ultrd objiciunt; Praecipue vero subit aniinuin 
mirari felicitatem otii tni, quo inter tam continuam 
concionum doctissimarum seriem studiis hisce 
paulo asperioribus, et abstrusissimarum quarum- 
cunque (utpote ex ima3 antiquitatis caligme eru- 
tarum) historiarum indagini vacare potueris: Hoc 
fieri non potuisset ilicet sine numine minim in 
modum et tibi propitio, et Ecclesiae : in cujus 
unius gratiam baec tibi singularia et artium et 
linguarum charismata tam ubertim collata fuisse, 

H h 2 



468 



APPENDIX. 



facile persentisces. Perge porro, Decus praesu- 
lum, ita et nos beare, et adornare tibi coronam 
gloria? sempiternal : et faxis mirentur posteri tale 
lumen tarn infaelici seculo indultum. Expectare 
nos jubes Chronologic um opus toti Christiano 
orbi exoptatissimum, sed et Annales, insuper 
alios: Quid non a tanto authore speremus? Deus 
modo protrahat tibi dies, ut aevi maturus hinc 
tandem demigres, seroque in caelum redeas. Misit 
mihi librum nuper k se editum Christophorus 
Elderfeldius noster, non, uti fatetur, injussu suo ; 
sane doctum, ac probe elaboratum, et nisi in 
deploratum incidissimns aevum, non inutilem : 
Quantum debeo et Authori et Patrono ? Habeat 
suas k me uterque gratias. Ego quod superest 
Paternitatae vestrae Reverendissimae preces meas 
animitus voveo quin et meipsum. 



JE Tuguriolo nostro Highamensi, JOS. NORVICENS. 

In festo Sancti Jacobi 
Anno mdcl. 



No. V. 



TO THE MOST REVEREND JAMES USHER, ARCHBISHOP 
OF ARMAGH. 

MOST REVEREND, AND HONOURABLE, 

With never enow thanks for this precious 
gift which I receive from your Grace's hand, I 
have, with no small eagerness and delight, turned 
over these your learned and accurate Annals, 
wondering not a little at that your indefatigable 
labour, which you have bestowed upon a work 
fetched together out of such a world of monu- 
ments of antiquity; whereby your Grace hath 
better merited the title of x«^ £ " T£ ?o? a °d (p^oTrovog,. 
than those on whom it was formerly imposed ; 
but in looking over this admirable pile of history, 
my curiosity cast me upon the search of two 
over-famous persons, Simon Magus, and Apol- 
lonius Tyanceus ; the particularities of whose 
story seem so much to be concerned in the dis- 
quisition of that antichrist lately set on foot by 



470 



APPENDIX. 



Grotius and Dr. Hammond. I had hoped to 
have found a just account, both of their times, 
and their actions, and events, in this your com- 
plete collection : which missing of, I have taken 
the boldness to give this touch of it to your 
Grace, as being desirous to know, whether you 
thought good to omit it, upon the opinion of the 
invalidity of those records, which mention the 
acts and issue of those two great Juglers; or 
whether you have pleased to reserve them for 
some further opportunity of relation. Howsoever, 
certainly, my Lord, it would give great satisfac- 
tion to many, and amongst them, to myself, if 
by your accurate search, I might understand 
whether the chronology of Simon Magus, his 
prodigies and affectation of Deity, may well stand 
with St. PauVs prediction of an ocvTimifxsvo?, as 
following it in time, after the writing of that 
second Epistle to the Thessalonians. I must con- 
fess, if the times may accord, there may seem to 
be some probability in casting antichrist upon an 
age not so far remote from the apostolic, as hath 
been commonly reputed ; since the apostle speaks 
of it as a thing so near at hand, that the ordinary 
christians of Thessalonica were well acquainted 
with the bar of his revelation. 

I beseech your Grace to pardon this bold 
importunity of him, who out of the consciousness 



APPENDIX. 471 

of his deep devotion to you, and his dependence 
upon your oracular sentence in doubts of this 
nature, have presumed thus to interrupt your 
higher thoughts : In the desire and hope whereof, 
I humbly take leave, and profess myself, 

Your Grace's in all Christian 

observance and fervent devotion, 

Higham, May 1,1654. JQS. NORVIC. 



No. VI. 



BISHOP HALL'S 

ATTESTATION TO [THE CHARACTER OF THE REV. JOHN 
DOWNE, B. D. IN A LETTER TO DR. HACKWELL. 

WORTHY DR. HACKWELL, 

I do heartily congratulate to my dead friend 
and collegian, this your just and noble commemo- 
ration. It is much that you have said; but, in 
this subject, no whit enough. 1 can second 
every word of your praises, and can hardly 
restrain my hand from an additional repetition. 
How much ingenuity, how much learning and 
worth, how much sweetness of conversation, how 
much elegance of expression, how much integrity 
and holiness, have we lost in that man? No 
man ever knew him, but must needs say, that 
one of the brightest stars in our west is now set ; 
the excellent parts that were in him, were a fit 
instance for your learnedly defended position, of 
the vigour of this last age ; whereinto he gave his 
accurate and witty astipulation. I do much 



APPENDIX. 



473 



rejoice, yet, to hear, that we shall be beholden 
to you for some mitigation of the sorrow of his 
loss, by preserving alive some of the posthume 
issue of that gracious and exquisite brain; which, 
when the world shall see, they shall marvel that 
such excellencies could lie so close, and shall 
confess them as much past value as recovery. 
Besides those skilfull and rare pieces of divinity, 
tracts, and sermons ; I hope (for my old love to 
those studies) we shall see abroad some excellent 
monuments of his Latin poesy: In which faculty 
I dare boldly say, few, if any, in our age exceeded 
him. In his polemical discourses, (some whereof 
I have by me) how easy is it for any judicious 
reader to observe the true genius of his renowned 
uncle, Bishop Jewell? Such smoothness of 
style, such sharpness of wit, such interspersions 
of well-applied reading, such grave and holy 
urbanity : shortly (for I well foresaw how apt 
my pen would be to run after you in this pleasing 
tract of so well-deserved praise) these works 
shall be as the cloak, which our prophet left 
behind him in his rapture into heaven. What 
remains, but that we should look up after him, 
in a care, and endeavour of readiness for our day; 
and earnestly pray to our God, that as he hath 
pleased to fetch him away in the chariot of death, 
so that he will double his spirit on those he hath 



474 



APPENDIX. 



thought good to leave yet below : In the meau 
time, I thank you for the favour of this your 
grave, seasonable, and worthy sermon, which I 
desire maybe prefixed, as a meet preface, to the 
published labours of this happy author. Fare- 
well, from your loving friend, and fellow-labourer. 

Exon. Palace, JQ S EXON'. 

Mar. 22, 1631. 



No. VII. 



A LATIN SERMON, 

PREACHED 

BY THE VERY REV. JOSEPH HALL, D. D. 

THEN DEAN OF WORCESTER, 

Before the Syn&d of Dort, Nov. 29, 1618. 



xxix Novembris, Die Jovis ante meridiem. 

u Habita fuit in Conventu Synodico a Reverendo et Clarissimo, I). 
Josepho Hallo Wigorniensi Decano, doctissima atque accuratissima 
exhortatio Latina, ex Eccles. Salomonis, c. vii, v. 16. Pro qua 
publice ei gratiae sunt actae." Acta Synodi Dordrechti, p. 38, 



Eccles. vii, 16. 
Ne sis Justus nimis, neque sis nimis sapiens. 

De justitia mihi hodie, cum bono Deo, et de 
sapientia sermo erit. Quid vero occurrere potnit 
opportunius? De justitia coram aequissimis 
Reipub. moderatoribus, de sapientia coram am- 
plissima doctissimorum Theologorum Synodo, 
sed et vice versa de sapientia in prndentissimorum 
Ordinum vicariorum consessu ; de justitia. in 
sanctissima corona Propbetarum. Nec est quod 
dubitem ne non aure bibula, lubentiq animo 
recipiantur ista ab utroq vestrum ordine (Nobi- 
lissimi Ordinum Deputati, Theologi gravissimi) 
quas utrumque ex asquo spectare videbuntur. 
Justitia se vobis offert primulum, deque ilia tres 
mirse profectd clausula? convenere istic, seque 
oculis auribusque vestris sponte ingerunt: Justus 
perit, ver. 15. Ne sis justus nimis, 16. Non est 
justus, 20. Euge concionatrix anima, quid medi- 
taris? ut e sacro illo ore pugnantes effluant 
sentential, seque uti Cadmasa proles mutuo peri- 
mant; dum negat ultima, quod prima asseruit; 
secunda vetat fieri, quod ultima posse fieri negat? 



478 



APPENDIX. 



Si non sit justus, qui potest perire? Qui potest 
esse quis justus nimis, si justus nemo est ? Mi 
homo, amicae sunt semper scripturarum lites : 
utinam tales semper fuissent nostra?. Neque 
hie opus est Mose aliquo Mediatore, qui frater- 
nitatem inculcet. Pulcherrime, scilicet, his inter 
se ultro convenit, ubi tribus clausulis, tria justitia3 
genera accommodare libuerit. Justitia absoluta 
est: sic nemo justus. Justitia inchoata, inque 
suo genere : sic justus perit. Justitia aequivoca; 
sic ne sis justus nimis. Ita facile et nimiiun 
justus est, qui justus non est, et qui justus est, 
perit. Non ergo vel animum adimit justitia? 
asseclis summum justitias exemplar, dum justum 
perire ait, vel veram justitiam deprimit, dum 
nimietatem vetat. Facile quidem oranes deter- 
remur a bono, qui vix ullis seu monitorum seu 
minarum frasnis nos a malo divelli patimur. 
Quam avide alacriterque omnes arripimus hoc 
quicquid est consilii ! Nempe hoc asgre npbis 
est, ac si quis febricitanti amico, jamque merum 
ignem spiranti, poculum frigida3 pleniusculum 
propinaverit. Perplacet naturae nostra? libertas, 
et quicquid hanc sapit, cordi est. Nos quidem 
onagrorum more (Jobi verbum agnoscitis) per 
haec mundi deserta soluti discurrimus, nec jugo 
assueti, nec frseno. Tota religio ligat nobis et 
mentem et manum. Unde et nomen illi indidit 



APPENDIX. 



479 



vetustas, et frasnum appinxit in maim inter 
Theologos nostri seculi Poeta maximus. Nullum 
non mandatum hami instar est et retinaculi, quo 
vaga hasc, et in scelus omne solutissima mens 
coercetur rxtopos xoyo$ est quicquid jubet. lllud 
vero imprimis, Estate perfecti, sicut Pater vester. 
Quod Petrus olim de rituum lege, idem caro et 
sanguis de legemornm: jugum impar cervicibus 
et Patrum et nostris. Laxare nunc habenas 
hasce videtur Salomon, et pro blandi alicujus 
Mitionis more indulgere aliquid parum flagitiosas 
licentise ; Ne sis justus nimis. Fallens et hie, 
quisquis es, Parasite tui. Perditissiniae huic 
naturae obblandiri velit sanctus concionator, ut 
modum imperet veras sanctimonias, improbulum 
ut esse sinat,~ut jubeat!— Apage blasphemiam! 
dixisset modo, noli justus esse, haberes profectd, 
quo petulantem hunc animum demulceres. Sed 
cum ait, Noli justus esse nimis, justitiam prascipit, 
damnat excessum. Excessus justitiae justitia 
non est. Ut desit vocabulum quo hoc exprima- 
tur, res constat: satis justus nemo potest esse, 
nedum nimis; etiam dum servat jus titias modum. 
Molesta quasdam animi pendentis anxietas et 
daifjiovia nomen hoc fortean induit, aut opinio justi- 
tia?. Quot vitia, virtutum titulis insignita vulgo 
prodeunt, prassertim ubi nota additur excessus ? 
Nimis liberalis, prodigus est: nimium fortis, 
audax: frugi nimis, avarus. Potius istic pro- 



480 



APPENDIX. 



batur fxstroTYig dum vtt^om prohibetur. Ut ubi 
Paulus immod era turn pro mortuis luctum vetat, 
moderatum jubet. Imprimis ergo justus esto. 
Da operam, ut in te justus sis, ut iu Christo. 
Regula justitias lex est, summa legis justitia. 
Oportet impleri omnem justitiam, inquit verus 
a%xwxo$ Melchisedechi. Suum cuique, justus. 
Vis igitur justus esse? Da Deo timorem, amorem, 
fidem. Proximo, et suum semper, et aliquando 
etiam ipsius tuum. Illi enim et tuum cedit : ubi 
tibi superfluit, ipsi defit. Tibi, quantum et 
naturae sufficiat, et personam. Utinam vero hoc 
unum addiscere possemus aliquando : utinam 
hac in parte haud parum peccaretur gravius ! 
Non satis jasti sumus, qui justitiam profitemur. 
Quisque sibi fere totum tribuit, proximo parum, 
minimum Deo ; utrique certe horum, quantulum 
expediat sibi. Vos appello (viri fratres) testes 
communis hominum vitas ac morum, quam peri- 
erint penitissime justitia et Veritas, a filiis homi- 
num. Quippini et vos asque provocem, (viri 
Magnates) censores judicesque facinorum, qua? 
oculos plebeculas vel spectando fatigarint. Con- 
queremini licet omnes cum Beato Martyre 
Cyprian o : Flagrant ubique delict a, et passim 
multiformi genere peccandi, per improbas mentes 
nocens virus operatur. Quin et innocentia, nec 
illic ubi defenditur, reservatur. Consensere jura 
peccatis, et ccepit esse licitum, quod publicum 



APPENDIX. 



481 



est. Sed, O si possitis in ilia sublimi specula 
constituti, oculos vestros inserere secretis, reclu- 
dere cubiculorum obductas fores, et ad conscien- 
tiam luminum penetralia occulta reserare, aspice- 
retis profecto ab impudicis geri, quod aspicere 
non possit frons pudica; videretis, quod crimen 
sit et videre, turpes Aretinismos libidinum, crudas 
nauseabundae ebrietatis reliquias. Filii hominum, 
usque quo gravi corde, quousque diligitis vanita- 
tem et qugeritis mendacium ? Estote justi satis. 
Succurrite vos interim laboranti Reipubl. qui 
sedetis ad clavum, et date operam sedulo, ut 
grassantibus hominum vitiis, tempestivis ali- 
quando tandem censuris occurratur. Quin claves 
manu exerit exercetque Ecclesia, quae gladium 
oris libere usque vibraverit? Quin fulminum 
spiritualium vim omnem ac horrorem sacrum 
redintegratis, facitisque ut qui Dei Ministros 
ftoeci fecerint, ad lictorum vestrorum fasces 
contremiscaut? Supponitur hoc primum (justus 
est!) sequitur, quod vetatur postmodum, Ne 
quid nimis; seu opinione, seu vero reipsa. Non 
opinione : facile qui pauxillum in se habent 
justitias, intestino quodam fermento sua^ <p&avTiccg 
efferentur, jamque se plus nimio abundare autu- 
mant. Ita justus erat jactator sui Pharisa3us, 
Gratias tibi, Domine, non sum ut alii, non ait, ut 
aliqui : modestiae fuisset istud, humique repentis 
ra7T£ivo<ppQ<Tuvr}g. Sunt enim aliqui profecto Dasmones, 

I i 



482 



APPENDIX. 



humana specie larvati, ut vere Hieronymus : sed 
ut alii, universalis naturam sortitur indefinitus 
enunciandi modus. Parem cum Pompeio ferre 
non vult, nedum cum Caesare superiorem. Jun- 
gant vero huic man us (si volunt Pontifii Thra- 
sones, homines sacerrimi, qui legem se ex amussi 
servare et supererogare demum aliquid se Deo 
posse jactitant. Ilicet hi veri sunt horum tem- 
poruin, (quos exprobare solent aliis) Puritani. 
Ingenue (quod solet) Espensaeus, sunt qui hodie, 
status et homines in perfectione justitiae tantum 
non sequent Angelis, novas veteris Pelagianismi 
reliquiae. Qua haeresi, ut nulla vel periculosior 
vel perniciosior, aut perpetual gratiae Christi 
recessitati magis contraria, ita nulla vel minus 
exstincta, vel plus rediviva. Sed et suos denique 
Gratianus, istos probe sugillat, qui si nomen 
suum, inquit, cognoscere vellent, mundanos se 
potius quam mundos appellarent. Erigant isti 
sibi cum Acesio scalam, qua in caelum ascendant, 
(monitore Hieronymo) ab irato interim omnis 
superbiae vindice, in imum barathrum praecipi- 
tandi. Mittamus opinionem. Sunt qui reipsa 
nimium ambiant justitiae, idque vel publice, vel 
privatim, PubTich, vel qui ipsum legis rigorem 
sectantur paulo severius in judicando, neglecta 
interim omnis mmjtsias ratione : pessimi amanu- 
enses, qui leges etiam lacteas sanguine transscri- 
bunt. Carnifices plane legates, qui dum non tarn 



APPENDIX. 



483 



in men tern legislatoris, quam in juris apicis inten- 
dunt, magistram \\tx, matrem pacis saluberrimam 
vofM9E<nav in ministram mortis inique convertunt. 
Quo referri dicerem, qui sic poems fuic solent, ut 
in aliorum delicta atrocius animadvertant, nisi 
illud palam esset, nullo graviore morbo saaculum 
hoc, quam lenitate nimia laborare. Neque tam 
lenientibus, cutimve blande reducentibus lini- 
mentis indiget commune improbitatis ulcus, quam 
igne et ferro. Etiam virtus ipsa nimia licentia 
languescil, quce moderata co'ercione vires perennat, 
imo reduplicat. Animosissimus equorum, si sem- 
per laxantur frasni, medio itinere deficit : neque 
jam virgas respondet satis, nec calcaribus. Siqui- 
dem vobis publican rei salus curse sit, eritis quid em 
hac in parte justiores. Vel qui sacraa legis 
interpretes ita se Uteris ac syllabis mancipio dare 
solent, ac si (contra quod olim Tertullianus) 
ratio divina Hon in medulla esset, sed in superficie, 
Ita Scribas olim et Pharisad, censore Christo. 
Ita Origines, psenam dans merito tot allegori- 
arum, Eunuchatum plane allegoricwn ad literam 
paulo servilius interpretatus, sibi vim tulit. Qui 
non minus vim intulerat Scriptures, virque esse 
desiit, qui non desiit esse malus interpres. Ita et 
Monachus ille olim Evangelium ipsum vendidit, 
a quo jussus est omnia vendere. Utinam vero 
Doctores Pontificii immunes se preestarent ab 
hoc crimine, quibus nimis solenne est caelum terras 

I i 2 



484 



APPENDIX. 



miscere, humanitatem Christi in monstrum, in 
nihilum redigere potius, quam in sacraraentali 
loquendi forma figuram nobiscura admittere 
veliut, qui tamen ipsi multas inibi fateri coguntur. 
Non infimum est apophthegmatum sapientissimi 
Regis, quod tamen vulgata Papicolarum versio 
ridiculum facit, Emulsor lactis educit butyrum ; 
emunctor nasi educit sanguinem. Et quid est hoc 
aliud, quam 7a x* aSoxov sincerum lac veritatis, ita 
nimis agitare ut in butyrum congelescat: naresque 
scripturarum adeo graviter comprimere, ut san- 
guis demum eliciatnr. Et horum quidem uterque 
nimis justus est ; in sententiis seu ferendis seu 
interpretandis. Quin et hue revocamus illos 
male cautos justitiae divinas vindices, qui causam 
Dei non aliter agendam censent, quam suam. 
Quasi ille ipse omnis justitige et bonitatis fons 
ac scaturigo immundum fluat, nisi ab istorum 
puteis humorem petat ilicet: vel qui ex altera 
parte prodigiosam justitiam, piisque auribus ne 
ferendam quidem Deo adfingunt. O homo, O 
latum ; sat est : sis tic illi quern te esse voluit : sit 
tibi ille, quern se fore revelavit. 

Privatus justitice excessus sequitur, vel sv ™ 
ansxEiv vel uttsxm ut imitemur Epic te turn, sive in 
evitandis rebus legitimis, quarum nobis usum 
libere concessit Deus, sive in agendis suspicien- 
disque quae Deus nusquam praascripserit. Illud 
meticulosae cujusdam est ac rigidiusculas anxieta- 



APPENDIX. 



485 



tis : hoc vero supers titiosa? nimiumque affectatas 
sanctimonias. Quaa de utroque horum meditatus 
eram quam multa prudens omitto, ne nimius sim. 
Cum instituto nostro conjunctior est paulo quas de 
sapientia sequitur oralio. Ne sis sapiens nimis. 
Qui, data optione, sapientiam sibi elegit, et 
supra quam mortales solent, sortitus est, nimium 
damnat sapiential ; Ecquid melle dulcius? vere 
Sampson. Ne nimium tamen mellis comedito, 
prudenter Salomon. Ipse rationis morbus est 
curiositas, quo vel ad mortem usque laborarunt 
primi generis humani parentes : nobis quidem 
ideo hasreditarius cognatusque. Esdras ille sup- 
positious aliud profitetur, aliud prasstat. Non 
propositi mihi, inquit, interrogare de superioribus 
tuis. Et tamen eodem loci, Nunquid plus Jutu- 
rum est, quam prceteriit? Sed et bonus ille 
Dionysius, ita de Angelorum ordinibus (uti nostis) 
disserit, quasi cum Paulo raptus fuisset in ccelum 
Imo quas B. Apostolus vidit et conticuit, iste non 
minus profecto conticuit, quam vidit. Neque 
defuit alter, qui ccelestium spirit uum numerum 
aeque certo designavit. Quin et Matilda, una h 
minorum gentium divis, fratris cujusdam rogatu 
ausa est nimis quidem familiariter sciscitari, quid 
de anima Sampsonis, quid de Salomonis, Trajani, 
Origenis, demum fieret. Qui ad pedes Christi 
diutule sederunt Apostoli, ubi de fidei mysteriis 
sermo inciderat, audiunt illico, vobis datum est 



486 



APPENDIX. 



nosse : sed ubi de rebus parum necessariis percon- 
tantur, ov% v^v yvwai. Absorptus est ab ilia vora- 
gine Plinius, quam proprius penitiusque voluit 
intueri. Et Bethsemitce, dum sacram Dei sedem 
Iceti perlustrant oculis siris, peri ere. Scio me jam 
ulcus taugere hujus aavi, quod tamen faciam levi 
manu. Liceat mihi, fratres reverendi, coram vobis 
merito queri, seculum illud prius, nimium igno- 
rantiae perdidisse. O crudeles plane illorum tem- 
porum Scribas et Pharisaeos, qui claves ccelorum 
sibi servanteSj nec intrarint ipsi, nec alios irdrare 
discupientes sus tinner int : nostrum vero hoc nimio 
perire sapiential Generosior quidem paulo est 
iste morbus, sed nihilominus lethalis. Omnes 
omnia scire volumus ; et ne quid forte lateat, 
etiam in arcanissima ;De concilia temere irruimus 
ac prascipitamur. Date veniam huic parrhesia?. 
Et plebem et doctore reos perago hujusce mali. 
Est sane (nequis nesciat) Theologia duplex, 
scholastica et popularis. Hasc religionis basin 
spectare videtur, ilia tectorii ipsius formam et 
ornamenta respicit. Hasc, quas sciri debent; 
ilia quas sciri possunt. Hujus cognitio Christia- 
num facit, illius disceptatorem. Vel, si quis 
mavult, et base Theologum facere solet, ilia 
polire. Ut omnes utriusque sententiam ex asquo 
ambiant, periculi plena res est, et quas vulgo in 
summa rerum omnium confusione desinat. Nulla 
profecto ars est, cujus intima ac secretiora 



APPENDIX. 



487 



mysteria non soleant, peculiari quadam ratione, 
solis artificibus relinquit Nemo est quin tantum 
sibi patrii juris no turn esse velit, quantum haeredi- 
tati suas sive adeundae, sive tutandas inservire 
posse putet. qui tamen summos juris apiculos 
sibi parum disquirendos autumet: hos vero potius 
consul tissimis legum doctoribus lubentissime 
remittat. Pari modo fit in medicina. Ecquis 
est, qui non eo usque se iEsculapio in disciplinam 
tradere velit, ut quid corpori suo noxium, quid 
valetudiui accommodum esse soleat, satis intelli- 
gat? qui tamen interim omnes pharmacopolas 
pixides, herbarum vires, morborum rationes, 
medendique methodos, susque deque habeat? 
Quin et hoc idem in artium omnium Domina ac 
Regina animaa cum jurisprudentia turn medicina, 
sacrosanctissima Theologia usu venit. Scitu ad 
salutem necessaria quasquas imbibant omnes, et 
licet et juvat. Saturate animas vestras, quotquot 
estis Ecclesias filii, sacris hisce deliciis ; subtili- 
ores scholarum argutias, alio ablegaturi. Ti vyav 
Quanto minus expedit, ut pie- 
beium quodque ingenium sum in as caali arces 
scandat profano pede, ibique sacra Dei penetralia 
audaci oculo perlustret, deque profundissimis 
consilii divini arcanis, judicum ferat? Ut qui vis 
b plebe nautarum bajulorumve, de abditissima 
prasdestinationis ratione, ratiocinari praesumat? 
Regulam Cossicam in Arithmetic^ dixit nonnemo 



488 



APPENDIX. 



prasdestinationem in Theologia, de qua doctaui 
quandam ignorantiam fateri non puduit illumina- 
tissimos Ecclesias doctores, Etiam rapta in 
coelum anima clamavit XI @<zdo$l Nos vero, brevi- 
cula intellectus nostri ulnula decreti divini abys- 
sum metiri audebimus, quaeque ipsi Angeli stupent, 
nos conculcabimus ? Neque tara plebem incuso 
istic, quam doctores ipsos, qui haec tam parum 
tempestive populi auribus animisque obgesserint. 
Tmprudenter sane factum, ita hasc abstrusissima 
mysteria b suggestis palam sonuisse, quasi in iis 
solis Christianorum res unica constitisset. Quan- 
quam, ut vere dicam, etiam in causis religionis, 
nemo tenetur secundum ictum expectare. Ferire 
non licuit, licuit impetum hosticum propulsare. 
Sed neque tam imprudentia peccatur istic, quam 
nimio forsan sapientige. Duo sunt, si quid ego 
animadverti, huic Ecclesi^ admodum infesta, 
nihil enim est cum malis quorundam politicorum 
artibus negotii, nimium acumen, et hinc orta 
nimia prophetandi libertas. O mutata haud 
parum Batavorum ingenia, quibus hebescit jam 
plane orbis reliquus : dignus ilicet, qui vulgaria 
consectetur ! Hinc fit, ut spreta communi prin- 
cipiorum via, altiores quasdam speculationum 
semitas, de Ordine, de Numero de Subjecto 
decreti divini, de Phisica moralive inclinatione, 
de Actuum habituumque methodo ac discrimine, 
tanto cum strepitu inire maluistis. Paulo aliter 



APPENDIX. 



489 



magnus ille gentium doctor Paulus, qui profecto 
si revivisceret, spinosam Jesuitarum ac Dominica- 
noruui Theologiam non intelligeret. Nihil ille 
inter suos scire curavit, praster Jesum Christum 
eumque crucifixum. Figendas sunt hie scholis 
ipsis sua? metas, quas nefas fuerit transiliisse. 
Quantum nos, mei fratres, a primigenia ilia 
Chris tianorum simplicitate defleximus ! Sex 
tantum capitibus constabat Catechismus Apos- 
tolicus, Theologia vero hodierna, qua3 homi- 
num curiosa mens est, se habet instar quanti, 
seu mathematici seu pbysici, divisibilis in semper 
divisibilia. Illud quidem vere Erasmus, hanc 
vix finitam qusestionum subinde emergentium 
decisionumque farraginem, hoc quicquid est 
turbarum, in Ecclesia. Dei concitasse. Neque 
dubitarim ego non neminem scholasticorum, 
verbis Festi compellare, unaque ad Anticyras 
relegare. Quos nimium eruditionis ad pessimum 
usque insanias genus redegerit. At nos, mei 
fratres, edocti melius, sobrie sapiamus. Hoc est, 
uno verbo, non supra scriptum, non supra patres. 
Nos homuli ut progrediamur porro ubi pedem 
fixerit Deus ? Audi caro et sanguis ; Scrutator 
Majestatis, opprimetur a gloria. Quindecim sunt, 
ut Judasi odservant, in tota, scriptura, loci, singu- 
laribus quibusdam intentionis notulis insigniti. 
Quorum ille et unus, et primus est, Secreta Deo. 
Si nihil quicquam consilii sui nobis innotescere 
voluisset Deus, prorsus siluisset ; si totum. dilu- 



490 



APPENDIX. 



cidius profecto ac plenius rationem illius omnem 
explicuisset. Jam scire nos ista voluit, sed par- 
cius. Quantum scilicet nostra tenuitatis modulo 
suceque gloriae expedire judicavit. Hucusque 
sapere et sanum et tutum est. Et certe, ut 
liceat mihi hac de re paulo liberius loqui) quan- 
doquidem nullarum partium homo sum ego, neque 
adversarium ago, sed monitorem benevolum) 
judicem esse debere coatroversiarum Spiritum S. 
in sacra Scriptura loquentem, nemo est qui 
ambigat. Quo nempe recurrant fratres de jure 
hasreditatis contendentes, nisi ad Patris testa- 
mentum? Gratulabor vero hoc consilii Illustris. 
Ordinibus, quorum nos decretum hue pie pruden- 
terque manu duxerit. Neque minus illud constat, 
ea Scripturae loca, quae quid obscurius, vel tran- 
seundo enunciare videutur, ad illustriora, quaeque 
studio rem ipsam tractant exigenda. Sed neque 
hoc denique a quoquam negari potest, nullum 
esse paginae utriusvis locum, qui aeque plene, 
perspicue, deditave opera disquisierit hoc prasdes- 
tinationis caput, ac celeberrimus ille, qui habetur 
ad Romanos nono. Agite ergo, viri judices, si 
me auditis, jubete, ut pars utraque litigantium, 
brevem, claram, apertamque, sine fuco, sine 
ambagibus illius loci paraphrasin Sanctae Synodo, 
fraterna manu exhibeat. Fieri non potest, quin 
praseunte hac face divina, se Veritas piis ingenu- 
isque oculis conspiciendam sit prasbitura. Non 



APPENDIX. 



491 



supra patres, fidissimos Scripturae interpretes, 
lucidissima Ecclesias sydera. Sed et rex noster, 
serenissimus noster rex Jacobus, cujus nomine 
exultare mihi videtur tota Ecclesia Dei ; regum 
quos sol unquam vidit, post unum Saloraonem 
gMxktov, sapientissiinus, in sua ilia aurea Epistola 
monult Ulustris. Ordines, nobisque in mandatis 
dedit, illud tot is viribus urge re, illud unum incul- 
care, ut receptee hactenus fidei communique et. 
vestrse et aliarnm Ecclesiarum confessioni adhas- 
rere usque velitis omnes. Quod si feceritis, O 
felicem Belgicam ! O intemeratam Christi spon- 
sam ! O rempublicam florentissimam ! Navi- 
gabit profecto in portu demnm haec afflictata 
opinionum undis Ecclesia, tempestatesque a 
maligno illo excitatas, tuto ridebit ac contemnet. 
Illud vero ut jam tandem fiat, (pihon/xeia-k wvxa&w 
Fratres sumus, simus et collega3. Quid nobis 
cum illo infami Remonstrantium, contra-Remon- 
strantium, Calvinianorum, Arminianorum titulo ? 
Christiani sumus, simus et la-o-^uxoi. Unum corpus 
sumus, simus et unanimes. Per tremendum 
illud omnipotentis Dei nomen, per pium blan- 
dumque communis matris nostra? gremium, per 
vestras ipsorum animas, perque sanctissima Jesu 
Christi Servatoris nostri viscera, pacem ambite, 
fratres, pacem inite; et ita nos componite, ut 
seposito omni prsejudicio, partiumque studio ac 
malo affectu, in eadem omnes veritate feliciter 



492 



APPENDIX. 



conspiremus. Apage vero vesanam illam pro- 
phetandi libertatem, imo licentiam blasphemandi ; 
ut liceat male feriato cuique Tyroni, prodigiosis- 
sima cerebri sui phantasmata in apricum produ- 
cere, et populo commendare et praelo. Ridente 
Mauro, nec dolente Judceo ! Quid vis licet, modo 
hoc liceat: in Scholis quidem philosophicis 
indultum hoc semper fuit luxuriantibus adoles- 
centum ingeniis, ut liceret se thesibus, paradoxis, 
doctisque argutationibus exercere; sed ut in 
SS. Theologiae veritatis negotio istud obtineat, 
moliri, audaciae est plane diabolicae ; et quod 
merito nobis extorqueat illud prophetae, " Obstu- 
pescite cceli, confundere O terra. Popxdus meus 
deseruit me, fontem vivum, et effodit sibi cisternas, 
imo puteos immundos, lutulentos." Nobiliss. viri, 
vosque Sancta Synodus, si quis pudor, si qua 
pietas, reprimite hanc petulantissimam insaniendi 
libidinem, modum imperate hominum et linguis 
et calamis. Et facite, ut qui vera sentire nolunt, 
falsa divulgare non ausint. Ut error haeresisve, 
si denasci non potest, discat tamen latere, et 
invisum cselo caput tenebris occultare. Ita ut 
sola Veritas lucem adspiciat, regnet sola; vobis 
salutem, gloriam Ecclesia?, Reipub. pacem alla- 
tura. Quod utique efficiat ille pacis autor, 
veritatis Deus, Rex gloriae, cui triuni Deo, Patri, 
Filio, Spiritui S. sit omnis laus, honor, gloria, in 
saecula sseculorum. Amen. 



No. VIII. 



Rustica AcademisB Oxoniensis nuper reformatae 
descriptio, in visitatione fanatica Octobris sexto, 
&c. A. D. 1648, cum Comitiis ibidem Anno 
sequente : et aliis notatu non indignis. Doctore 
Alibone nuper Lincolnice Oxon. Authore. 

1. Rumore nuper est delatum 

Dum agebamus ruri, 
Oxoniam iri reformatam 
Ab iis qui dicti puri. 

2. Decrevi itaque, confestim, 

(Obstaculis sublatis) 
Me Oculatum dare testem 
Hujusce novitatis. 

3. Ingressus urbem juxta morem, 

Scrutandi desiderio : 
Nil praeter maciem, et squalorem, 
Foedissimum comperio. 

4. A Decio in specum jacti, 

Qui tantum dormierunt, 
Post seculum expergefacti, 
Tot mira non viderunt. 

5. Erectas illi crebras cruces, 

Et templa conspexere, 
Quae prisci pietatis duces 
Tunc primum construxere. 



494 



APPENDIX. 



6. Nos autem sanctiora miper 

Incidimus in secula, 
Qui tollunt ista tanquam Super- 
Stitionis symbola. 

7. Ad Scholas primum me trahebat 

Comitiorum Norma, 
Queis olim quisq. peragebat 
Solenniter pro forma. 

8. Expecto Regios prefessores, 

Comparuere nulli : 
Nec illic adsunt Inceptores, 
Nec Togce, nec cuculli. 

9. Calcavi Atrium Quadratum, 

Quo juvenum examen 
Confluxit olim ; video pratum 
Quod densum tegit gramen. 

10. Adibarr lubens Scholam Musices, 

Quam Fcemince et Joci 
Ornassent pridem, sed Tibicines 
Jam nusquam erant loci. 

11. Conscendo Orbis illud decus 

Bodleio fundatore : 
Sed intus erat nullum pecus, 
Excepto Janitore. 

12. Neglectos vidi Libros multos, 

Quod minime miraudum: 
Nam inter Bardos tot et Stultos 
There's few cou'd understand 'em. 

13. Dominico sequente die, 

Ad sacra celebrauda, 
Ad redes propero Marice 
Nam divce vox nefanda. 

14. Tenebar mox intrandi metu, 

Solicitus ut ante : 
Sed frustra prorsus, nullo castu 
Introitum negante. 



APPENDIX. 495 

15. Ingressus sedes senioribus 

IWatis destinatas : 
Videbam Cocis et Sartoribus 
Et Lixis, usurpatas. 

16. Procancelarius * recens prodit, 

Cui satis Uterarum, 
Quod veto qnisque probus odit, 
Est Conscientice parum. 

17. Procurartoes sine clayibus, 

Quaerentibus ostendas : 
Bedellos noyos sine Stavibus ; 
Res protinus ridendas. 

18. Suggestuin conscendebat fungus f 

lnsulsa quaeq. fundens: 
So dull a fool was ne'er among us, 
Puhinar sic contundens. 

19. Quicquid in buccam evenivit, 

Minaci utens dextra, 
Boatu magno effutivit 
Et nuuquam fuit extra. 

20. Defessus hac Dulmanitate, 

Decrevi venerandos 
ISon adhuc pulsos civitate 
Amicos yisitandos. 

21. Collegium petii Animarum 

Xunc proprie sic dictum : 
Xam rerum hie coiporearum 
Vix quicquam est relictum. 

22. Hie quiero yirum f suayitate 

Omnimodo politum : 
Responsum alibi ingrate, 
Custodem custoditum. 



* Dr. Reynolds. t Dr. Stanton. 

I Dr. Sheldon postea Cant. Arch. Episc. 



496 



APPENDIX. 



23. Ad Corpus Christi flecto gressum 

Qua brevitate possum : 
J urares novis probris pressum 
Et furibus confossum. 

24. Ecclesiam Christi susque deque 

Jactatam mox et versam, 
Et sobolem, heu! longe lateque 
Percipimus dispersam. 

25. Rogavi ubi sit Orator * 

DivinaB plane mentis : 
Pro facinus ! incarceratur 
Facundce decus gentis. 

26. Hinc domum peto preecursoris, 

Quern triste passum fatum, 
Recenti n arrant vi tortoris 
Secundo decollatum. 

27. Tam Sancto preside f cadente 

Discipuli recedunt : 
Et Ccecodemone J regente, 
Nec bibuut jam, nec edunt. 

28. Heu ! pulchra domus, nuper laeta 

Dulcissimis fluentis, 
Nunc cceno penitus oppleta 
Canalis putrescentis. 

29. Adire nolui Trinitatem, 

Quam nostis prope stare : 
Haereticam societatem 
Ne videar damnare. 

30. Nam tanta desolatione, 

Quam quis nefandam dicet, 
Occurrunt nusquam tres personae 
Scruteris usque licet. 



* Dr. Hammond. f Dr. Bayly. 

t Mr. Channel. 



APPENDIX. 



497 



31. Reverso, tristis fertur casus, 

Et miserandum omen 
Coilegii cui Rubens Nasus 
Prae foribus dat nomen. 

32. Dederunt illi Principalem * 

Rectores hi severi, 
Distortis oeulis, et qualem 
Natura vult caveri. 

33. Mox iEdes ingredi conatus 

Non uuquam senescentes, 
Stupescens audio ejulatus 
Horrenda sustinentisf 

34. Quod dulce nuper domicilium 

Ingenuis alendis ; 
Nunc merum est ergastulum 
Innocuis torquendis. 

35. Ad flentem me recipio tandem 

Flens ipse Mag dele nam : 
Et gemens video eandem 
Vacuitate plenam. 

36. Quae faelix dudum ornabatur 

Frequentibus Alumnis, 
Quag suaviter innitebatur 
Doctissimis columnis. 

37. Num lapsis fulcris queis vigebat 

Videres humi stratam : 
Et prole densa qua gaudebat, 
En misere orbatam. 

38. Has sedes comptiores musae 

Quas habuere sibi 
Nunc densis tenebris offusae 
Et Zim et Ozim ibi.J 



* Dr. Greenwood Lippus. 

f Mr .Collier postea Bedelius qui tortus fuerat per Chiliarch: 
Kelley. F 
X Vide Isa, xiii, 21, 

Kk 



498 



APPENDIX. 



39. Pro * preside (cui quemquam parem 

Vix aetas nostra dedit) 
En vobis stultum Capularem f 
Ad clavurn jam qui sedet. 

40. Quam vereor ne diro omine 

Septem regrediantur 
Daemonia, divino n undue 
Quae quondam pellebantur. 

41. Quocunque breviter flectebam, 

Aut dirigebam Visum : 
Id totum induit quod videbam 
Aut lachrimas aut risum. 

42. Ingemui, dum viros video 

Doctissimos ejectos : 
Et contra, alternatim rideo, 
Stolidulos suffectos. 

43. O probam reformandi Artem ? 

Quae medicina datur ? 
Quae curat, ut curamus partem 
Cum totum exscindatur. 

44. Quadratos homines quae jubet 

Et doctos extirpandos ; 
Et nebulones prout lubet 
Rotundos surrogandos. 

45. Collegia petis ? Leges duras 

Habes, nil fas videri, 
Prater aedes et structuras ; 
Scholares abiere. 

46. Culinas illic frigescentes, 

Capellas sine precibus, 
In Cellis cernas sitientes, 
Et Aulas sive Messibus. 



* Dr. Oliver. 

t Dr. Goodwill, vulgo vocatus Dr. Nine Caps. 



APPENDIX. 



499 



47. In templis quoevis Gonciones, 

Aut quicquid est decorum ? 
Habebis hsesitationes 
Extemporaneorum. 

48. Interea quid oppidani 

With all their quaint devices 
Qui novas hasce (male sani) 
Exoptavere vices ? 

49. Erecta cornua gerebant, 

Dum montes hi parturiunt : 
Et nunc fastidiunt, quae volebant 
Et fortitur esuriunt. 

50. Heu ! ingens rerum ornamentum 

Et sevi decus pridem ; 
Quo tandem pacto hoc perventum, 
Ut idem non sit idem ? 

51. Nam vix a quoquam quod narratur 

Obventum olim Somnio, 
Compertum erit si quaeratur 
Oxonium in Oxonio. 



K k 2 



No. IX. 



DEATH'S ALARUM: 



A 



ON THE RIGHT REVEREND JOSEPH HALL, BISHOP 
OF NORWICH. 



BY J. WHITEFOOT. 



TO THE REVEREND HIS MUCH-HONORED FRIEND 
ROBERT HALL, D.D. 



ELDEST SON TO THE RIGHT REVEREND JOSEPH, 
LATE L. B. OF NORWICH. 

SIR, 

It is an undoubted Canon of the Apostles, That the 
Elder that rules well, and especially that labours too 
in the word and doctrine, should be counted worthy of 
double honour ; such an one was your reverend father, 
by the good report of all men, and of the truth itself 
And the double honour that the Apostle allowed him, 
he was once, by the bounty of his Christian Prince, 
worthily possessed of; though of late, as we all know, 
he was muzzled from the enjoyment thereof But envy 
itself ( and if there be any thing worse ) cannot deprive 
him of his double honour : one part whereof he hath 
already enjoyed in his life-time, in the hearts, tongues, 
and pens of those that lived with him, in this and other 
nations. The second part remains still due to him, after 
his death ; which he cannot want, whiles there are any 
living whose tongues are capable of giving a true praise. 

This poor piece was designed to that just end; that is, 
next to the glory of God, to the due honour of his faithful 
servant. That it is no more worthy of his name, is a 



504 



APPENDIX. 



second fart of my sorrow, for his death. It contains a 
short representation of him taken in haste, as all pictures 
are which are done after the party's death ; yet might it 
have been done nearer to the life, had it not fallen into a 
very unskilful hand : but besides that, it hath the common 
disadvantage of all writings, which are but the /lead 
shadows of the living voice ; and therefore no marvel, 
if this wants much of that little grace and vivacity, 
which it might seem to have in the delivery. 

Such as it is, Sir, it was, without consulting my voice, 
voted to the Press, by them that heard it, and as much 
desired by them that heard it not, because they heard 
not of it, till it was past the reach of the ear. And 
they were neither few, nor slight persons that were much 
discontented at their absence from the too private Com- 
memoration of so worthy a person, caused by the sudden 
determination of the time. To give them some satis- 
faction, I was enforced to yield to the publication of 
these notes. WJiereto I was also encouraged, because 
promised, by the kind judgements of them that heard 
them, that they could not but find some good entertain- 
ment from most men, for his sake, of whom they repre- 
sent so willing, though weak, a remembrance. I hope 
also they may afford some present satisfaction to the 
many, that justly expect a better account of his Life ; 
which in your name, by whom it is best able to be done, 
I here presume to promise, in convenient time ; and that 
the rather, because I am not ignorant of your being 
furnished of some modest and yet remarkable collections 
thereof left by his own Pen. I doubt not but that you 
esteem it a special part of your owne duty, as well as 
your honour, to f ollow the straight steps of his industrious 
and holy life. And to afford the president thereof to the 
imitation of others, will be a kindness very seasonable in 



APPENDIX. 



505 



these evil days. And very useful it may be after many 
others of the ancient Bishop's lives, now forgotten, than 
which it is certain there never were any more saint-like, 
since those of their predecessors the Apostles, towards a 
demonstration that prelacy, and piety, are not such 
inconsistent things, as some would make them ; and that 
the men which are of, or for, that order, should not be 
excluded ( as by the monopolizers of that name they now 
are ) from the number of saints ; and consequently not 
debarred from that which is now asserted to be the 
common interest, and indefesible right of all saints 
of whatever persuasion ; that is the liberty (if not of 
discipline, yet ) of worshiping God, according to their con- 
science, and the best light of their own understanding. 

To conclude: your nearest relation, claims the prime 
interest in whatsoever shall pretend to your Father's 
name ; and therefore, this, Sir, which is to be reckoned 
inter parentalia, is with the Author, 

Your's at command, 

To serve you in the Lord, 



From my Study in St. Peter, 

Norwich, Nov. 10, 1656. 



J. w. 



Genesis xlvii, 29. 



And the time drew nigh that Israel must die. 

In the funeral sermons of the ancients, the 
person deceased was the only text; and the 
sermon nothing but an anatomy lecture upon the 
dead man's life. Should I have imitated that 
custom upon this occasion, by taking no other 
text, than that of this saint's life ; that which the 
psalmist saith of the life of man, would, very 
like, have been the censure of my sermon : 
namely, that it was but as a tale that ivas told. 
Ps. xc, 9. But methinks I might have had a 
sufficient apology for that, not from the custom 
of the fathers only, but from Scripture itself ; a 
good part whereof is altogether taken up with a 
narrative of the lives of saints ; and those too, 
not altogether canonical in every line. And we 
have a saint to speak of, (1 think I may presume 
to say) as eminent an one as some of them. 

But yet I hold myself by modern custom 
obliged to chuse another text, first, or last ; and 
I thought it would do best to give it the prece- 



508 



APPENDIX. 



dence ; you have heard already what it is, short 
and plain, agreeable to the design of my discourse 
upon it, which must be short, because I have 
another text to take up, when I have done with 
this ; and plain, because that suits best with my 
own abilities, and the sadness of the occasion. 
And the time drew nigh that Israel must die. So 
it is in the English paraphrase; for a verbal 
translation according to the Hebrew text, would 
run thus : And the days of Israel drew near to 
die. And so our translator renders the same 
words, 1 Kings ii,l ; Deut. xxxi,14. But I shall 
not take upon me to correct the present transla- 
tion, because it agrees well enough with the 
sense, and better with the words too, than that 
of the vulgar latin, as I shall have occasion to 
shew by and by. 

Four things I have to consider in this text : 1. 
The necessity of Israel's death, Israel must die. 
2. The time of his death, there was a certain 
time when Israel must die. 3. The appropin- 
quation of that time, the time drew nigh. 4. 
Israel's foresight, and consideration of the ap- 
proach of that time. This the vulgar Latin hath 
distinctly expressed, Cumque appropinquare cerne- 
ret diem mortis suce, When he saw the day of his 
death drew nigh. That Cerneret, 1 confess, is an 
addition to the words, but not to the sense of 
the text* For that Israel did foresee and con- 



APPENDIX. 



509 



sider the approach of his death, is plainly 
implied, as the reason why he took such a 
careful order with his son Joseph, about the 
place of his burial, as you may read in the words 
following my text. The like order did Joseph 
himself give to his sons, about his burial, when 
he saw his time to die drew nigh. Gen. 1, 25, 26 
Both of them were very solicitous to be buried 
in the land of Canaan. Lyra thinks it was, 
because they foresaw, by a spirit of prophecy, 
that in that country there would be a resurrection 
of many saints with Christ, when he should rise 
again, and they hoped to be of the number, and 
therefore would be buried there. This conceit is 
scarce so much as probable. 

But that reason which the Rabbins give, is a 
ridiculous absurdity; namely, because there shall 
be no resurrection at all of any but Jews, and of 
them only in the land of Canaan ; whither all 
bodies that are not buried there must be rolled 
through some secret burrows of the earth, from 
their most distant places of burial, before they 
can be raised to life: # this fancy is near akin to a 
multitude more of those men's. But the author 
to the Hebrews hath told us the true reason of 
their desires in this point : By faith Joseph when 



Buxtorfii Syqagoga Jud. c. 1. 



olO 



APPENDIX. 



he died made mention of the departing of the chil- 
dren of Israel out oj Egypt, and gave command- 
ment concerning his bones ; (Heb. xi, 22.) namely, 
that they should be carried with them into 
Canaan : thereby declaring his own, and con- 
firming their faith, concerning their deliverance 
out of the Egyptian thraldom, which for some 
time they were yet to indure, and their certain 
possession of the land of promise. 

I am now to begin with the first particular 
fore-mentioned ; the death of Israel, and the 
necessity thereof, Israel must die. I told you 
before the vulgar translator had taken the bold- 
ness to put in a word into the text, and that I 
excused, for its agreement with, and explication 
of the sense. But I must tell you also, he hath 
left out another word, instead of that, which 
cannot so well be excused. For he reads, Cumq; 
appropinquare cerneret diem mortis, leaving out 
the name of Israel, which is found in the original. 
I am not so great a friend to that translation, as 
to excuse that presumption, if such it were, and 
not rather an oversight, left yet uncorrected, in 
all the copies that I have seen. 

The name of Israel is too considerable a word 
to be left out in the text, whether we respect the 
person signified by that name, or the signification 
of the name. 

First, consider the person signified by that 



APPENDIX. 



511 



name, and you shall find he was as eminent an 
one, as any that is named in Scripture. And for 
the signification of the name, you shall hear also, 
that is very considerable, and so declared by 
God himself, who both gave the name, and the 
true interpretation thereof. First, let us a little 
inquire after the person signified by this name, 
Israel : who was he ? The man was a Binomius, 
one that had two names : his original name was 
Jacob, and there was a mystery in that name, as 
you may find, Gen. xxv, 26; Bos. xii, 3. This 
name of Israel was an agnomen, an alias to the 
name of Jacob; a new name given him by his 
godfather the angel, at his confirmation : you 
may read the story of it, (Gen. xxxii, 28.) Thy 
name shall be no more called Jacob, but Israel. 

ftsya xai Tifxiov ovo/tot, aOhov tyis sucrsfisias. Naz. A great 

and honorable name given him for a reward of his 
piety. So the Lord changed the name of Abram 
his grandfather, into Abraham. Gen. xvii, 5. And 
he was the first man in the world, whose name 
was ever given, or changed by God. And it is 
well noted, there never was any man received a 
name immediately from God, but was either an 
eminent person, or a type of some great and 
notable matter in the church. 

There is no name in Scripture more famous, 
than that of Israel. Pererius puts the question, 
why the story of Israel's life, is more fully set 



512 



APPENDIX. 



forth than any of the Patriarchs: and gives this 
reason for it ; because he was, totius et solius 
populi Dei Parens, the Father of all, and the 
onely people of God, having no other children 
besides the twelve patriarchs, the heads of the 
twelve tribes of Israel : which cannot be said 
either of Abraham or Isaac : for Abraham we 
know had Ishmael as well as Isaac : and so was 
not the father of the faithful only, but of the 
lshmaelites too. And Isaac had Esau as well 
as Jacob, and so was father of the Edomites, as 
well as Israelites ; but Jacob was father of the 
Israelites only : and that ye know in the Old 
Testament is the common name of the people of 
God ; who are sometimes called the Children of 
Israel, sometimes Israel, and sometimes Israelites. 
As we are now called Christians from Christ, so 
were the people of God of old called Israelites 
from this Israel. And it is observed, when 
speech is of the infirmities of the church, she is 
called Jacob ; but when her glory and valour is 
signified, she is called Israel. Israel had the 
honour first to receive his name from God him- 
self, and then to give a name to all the people of 
God ; yea, and to God himself too, for he is fre- 
quently called The God of Israel, The Hope of 
Israel, The Strength of Israel, The Rock of 
Israel, The King of Israel, The Saviour of 
Israel, &c. And Christ is called, The Holy One 



APPENDIX. 



of Israel, The Glory of Israel. Many and 
glorious things are spoken of this name, too 
many to be here recounted. The sum of all is 
comprehended in the words that were put into 
Moses' mouth, to speak unto Pharaoh, (Exod. 
iv, 22.) Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, thus saith 
the Lord, Israel is my son, my Jirst-born : or in 
that of the prophet, quoted by the apostle, The 
Lord said, I have loved Jacob, (that is Israel,) 
and I hated Esau. Mai. i, 2; Rom. ix, 13. He 
was the famous instance of God's free and eternal 
election. One that was sanctified from the 
womb, and in it, as is thought. The blessings of 
Israel prevailed above the blessings of his fathers. 
Gen. xlix, 26. Stfch was the honour of the 
person signified by this name. 

Now for the signification of the name, I find 
some variety in the opinion of the ancients : some 
will have it to signify, Homo videns Deum, a 
man seeing God, as Philo, and most of the fathers 
after him. Some translate it, Rectus Dei, a right 
(or upright) man of God. This signification is 
oft mentioned, and sometimes approved by S. 
Hierom. And very true it is, that both these 
significations of the name will agree very well to 
the person of Israel ; and well enough with the 
name itself, as it may be written and pointed in 
Hebrew. Israel was indeed "™ nun a man that 
saw God, and that oftener than any of the 

L 1 



514 



APPENDIX. 



patriarchs : we have seven or eight of his visions 
recorded in Scripture, and one of them was then 
when he received this name, whereupon he called 
the place Peniel, (Gen. xxxii, 30.) giving the 
interpretation, For I have seen God face to face. 
2. Israel was Rectus Dei, a right upright man, 
*w & an ™, Vir simplex, awxasr©-, in the Sept. 
flwrtos, saith Aquila, (Gen. xxv, 27.) a plain down- 
right man: our Saviour alludes to this place, 
(John i, 47.) where he saith of Nathanael, that he 
was a true Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. 

But the truth is, these are but human conceits 
of the Etymology of his name. The special and 
proper signification and reason of this name is 
given by the angel himself, that gave him that 
name, (Gen. xxxii, 28.) Thy name shall be no 
more called Jacob, (that is, Jacob only,) but 
Israel ; for as a prince hast thou power with God, 
and ivith men, and hast prevailed. This is the 
true interpretation of his name, Princeps cum 
Deo, a prince with God. He prevailed with 
God, first for the blessing, and by that blessing 
he prevailed with men, with Laban, and with 
Esau, when the one followed, and the other met 
him with their threatening troops; and prevail 
he did like a mighty prince with other men too; 
for with his sword and his bow, he conquered 
from the Amorite, (Gen. xlviii, 22.) that country 
which he gave to his son Joseph for a possession : 



APPENDIX. 



515 



Israel and Jacob too, had both names from 
striving and from prevailing. The first name 
Jacob, he received in token that he should prevail 
over his brother Esau : the second name, Israel, 
he had in testimony that he had prevailed with 
God, and he that prevails with God cannot be 
overcome by men. 

But this victorious prince, this famous victor 
that prevailed both with God and men, was 
supplanted, was overcome at last by death, as is 
signified in my text : Israel must die, as well as 
Esau, he whom God loved, as well as he that 
was hated. Death is no argument of God's 
hatred, Neither death nor life can separate Israel 
from the love of God. He that was loved of God 
before he was born, was no less beloved when he 
was dead. If any man might have prevailed 
against death, or been excused from it, one 
should have thought Israel should : but there is 
no such privilege belongs to Israel ; no privilege 
from death, that death which the text speaks of, 
the death of the body. But in another sense it 
is true, Israel did prevail over death: death 
itself, with his sting, was and shall be swallowed 
up in victory by him — the gates of hell did not 
prevail over him. For the living God is the God 
of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Israel, (Matt, 
xxii, 32.) And God is not the God of the dead, 



516 APPENDIX. 

but of the living. Israel therefore is not quite 
dead, but still lives, and shall do for ever. 

But for all that, it was true, Israel must die. 
Though the word must is not in the original 
letter, yet it is in the sense : and if there had not 
been a necessity for Israel to die, we had not 
been here now to mourn over our Father Israel, 
that is dead. Butwhywzw^F What necessity 
was there that Israel must die? The original 
cause of death we may read in the first mention 
that is made of death, (Gen. ii, 17.) The day 
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Thou, 
and all thine, (non uni, sed universitati dicitur 
moriendo morieris,) in dying thou shalt die : that 
is, certainly without remedy. The blasphemous 
Jews say, Adam and his posterity were therefore 
condemned to die, because out of his posterity 
there was a man to come that would make him- 
self a God : many such there were, but they 
meant it of Christ. Whereas the Scriptures, as 
well theirs as ours, tell us it was because they 
would have made themselves gods, listening too 
ambitiously to the serpent that promised them 
the preferment, in his eritis sicut dii, ye shall be 
as Gods. But you will say, hath not Christ 
then redeemed Israel? We trust he hath, nay 
we are sure of it : as sure as we are that him- 
self the Holy One of Israel, is risen from 
the dead ; so sure we are that Israel is, and 



APPENDIX. 



517 



shall be redeemed from death. The soul is 
redeemed from the gates of hell, and the body 
shall be redeemed from the grave in due time ? 
by a blessed resurrection, which is called the 
redemption of the body; (Rom. viii, 23.) but for 
that redemption we must wait till the appointed 
time come. But is that any privilege of Israel's ? 
Shall not Esau be partaker of that redemption 
as well as Israel ? I answer, no ; and yet it is 
true, (and an heresie in the Socinians to deny it) 
his body shall be raised again from the grave; 
but that will be no redemption from prison, but 
a bringing forth to execution. We never read of 
a wicked man raised from the dead in Scripture, 
though there be many examples of resurrection in 
both testaments. 

But why might not Israel be excused from 
dying at all, and so this miraculous redemption 
of the body be spared? I answer, because the 
Holy One of Israel, (that was as well the exam- 
ple, as the author of our redemption) was not 
excused: and we are predestinate to be made 
conformable to the image of Christ, that he might 
be the first-born among many brethren; (Rom. 
viii, 29.) conformable to his sufferings, and to his 
death, cru(A(AO%$QUfAsvog rep 6avotTcp awrx. Phil, iii, 10. 
Obedient, as he was, so must we be, unto the 
death. Our bodies are not to be made like unto 
his glorious body, till they be made vile by death 
as his was. 



518 



APPENDIX. 



Irsae] must die in Egypt, before he can be 
carried into Canaan, (ver 30.) Flesh and blood 
cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. That 
the Apostle saith of Israel, is true in another 
sense than he meant: All is not Israel, that is of 
Israel. Rom. ix, 6. There is an Esau struggling 
with Jacob whiles we are in the flesh, a body of 
flesh striving with the spirit, and though it be 
supplanted by Jacob in the new birth, yet it will 
not be quite extirpate, till by death we shall be 
delivered from this body of death. Cum hac 
controversia nati sumus (saith Augustine,) these 
two twins make a perpetual war in us, and no 
peace is to be expected till they be parted by 
death. The nerve of the flesh is shrunk and 
lamed in the combat with the spirit, but not 
quite cut asunder ; and Israel halts all his life- 
time in the flesh : Non enim est rectipes virtus in 
corpore mortali, saith Philo. Divines are of 
opinion, that in all those that Christ cured of 
any bodily disease he made a perfect cure, not 
of that disease only 5 but of all others, and did 
integram corporis sanitatem conferre; left no 
relics of infirmity behind him. fjow true that 
is, I know not ; but sure we are, it is not so in 
the spiritual cure ; the spirits of the just are not 
made perfect till death. There is a sin that 
cleaves close to us, that will not be put off till 
we be unclcrathed by death. Israel therefore 



APPENDIX. 



519 



must die, that he may be free from sin. Death 
came in by sin, and sin goes out by death. So 
do the sorrows of life by those of death : We 
must die once, that ive may die unto sin. It is the 
only panacea or all-heal: nothing but the winding- 
sheet can wipe away all tears from our eyes. 
A barbarous kind of mercy it was of Tamberlain, 
to cause all the lepers of the country to be put 
to death, to rid them of their misery : but in God 
it is a real mercy, as well as justice, to soul and 
body too, to let men die, to free them from the 
leprosy of the soul, and the miseries of the body. 
Israel must die that he may rest from his labours, 
and reap the fruits of them. There is no enter- 
ing into God's rest, but by this sleep. Job calls 
man an hireling, (chap, xiv, 6.) so doth our 
Saviour in the parable : (Matt, xx, 1 .) and the 
hireling servant may not betake him to his rest, 
nor receive his wages till night. When Moses 
was to die, the Lord bid him first come up, and 
then die, (Deut. xxxii,48,49.) Ascende et moreref 
but we must first die before we can ascend to 
the mount of the Lord. There can be no perfect 
visions of God, but in the night of death : so 
darkness was before light, and the evening is 
before the morning. 



* Naz. in laud. Basilii. 



520 



APPENDIX. 



We can never be perfectly possessed of the 
glorious liberty of the sons God, till we get out 
of the prison of the body, and so be as the 
Psalmist speaks, jree among the dead. Ps. 
lxxxviii, 5. o (tccKapiTvs, was a common Ewphe- 
mismus among the Greeks for a dead man ; but 
it is indeed the proper title of a saint. Ante 
obitum nemo, fyc. The spirit, in truth, is never 
perfectly alive till the body be dead. It is but 
as it were buried alive in the body. A kind of 
mortification it is to the soul to live in the body : 
Plato. It doth neither know nor 
see itself, whiles it is the flesh. 

Death indeed is called sleep usually; but as 
Tertullian excellently shews in his book De 
Anima, it is rather an awaking of the soul, which 
in the body is asleep, and doth but dream of 
things, and therefore is grossly mistaken in all its 
notions. £>e oppanso corporis erumpit in apertum 
ad meram, et puram, et suam lucem — ut de somno 
emergens ab imaginibus ad veritates* 

To conclude this point: the bird in the 
breast can never be perfectly taught to sing its 
heavenly note of Hallelujah till it gets out of 
its cage, and be set upon the tree of life, which 
is in Paradise. 



* Tertuilian, cap. 63. 



APPENDIX. 



521 



We have heard of the necessity of Israel's 
death, and some reasons of it : but what is that 
to us ? What use may we make of this point ? 
why this : it will afford us a double argument 
to reconcile us to the thoughts of death. The 
first is that which Elijah used in his petition for 
death, (1 Kings xix, 4.) It is enough now, O 
Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than 
my fathers. It is enough to make us content to 
die, though perhaps not ground enough to warrant 
us to pray for it, as Elijah did, not without some 
spice of impatience, as is judged: but to make 
us content to die, this is enough, that we are not 
better than our Fathers. It is a forlorn error 
to think, that company will abate the misery of the 
second death ; but of the first it may, especially 
when it is so good. Israel is dead, and so is 
Isaac, and Abraham, and all the Fathers: and 
are we better than they? We shall fare no 
worse than they in dying, if we be their children ; 
and to desire to fare better than any of them, 
were worse than a vanity. It were too much 
pride to think ourselves so good as they. And 
as we are not so good in our lives, so neither 
is our condition so good as their's whilst we live, 
but when we die it may, for then we shall be 
gathered to our fathers, 

And that is another good argument to reconcile 
us to death; because thereby we shall be 



522 



APPENDIX. 



gathered to our fathers; as is said of Abraham and 
many others of the holy fathers ; so it is said of 
Israel when he died, he was gathered to his 
people. Gen. xlix, 33. That phrase is primarily 
meant of the body, which goeth to the grave, 
the house appointed for all living, as Job calls it, 
chap, xxx, 23, Yet may it be understood of the 
soul too, which by death is gathered to «3Vj ? , the 
congregation-house of souls, or the World of 
Souls: nwsDn cbiy, as the Hebrews call it. And 
the souls of God's saints are gathered wavyv^i 

km ekhXyhticz TTparoloKuv ev xptxvois a7roy£yg<Z(A/ji.EVcov, To the 

general assembly and church of the first-horn, 
which are written (in albo ccelesti) in heaven, and 
to the spirits of just men made perfect. Heb. xii, 13, 
There we shall meet with Abraham, and Isaac, 
and all the Fathers ; with the glorious company 
of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the 
prophets, and the noble army of martyrs. 

Israel rejoiced much for the hopes he had to 
see his son Joseph, though it were in Egypt: 
(Gen, xliv, 27, 28.) how much more cause have 
we to rejoice for the hopes w r e have to see 
Israel himself, his, and our Joseph, and all the 
rest of our fathers and brethren in the heavenly 
Canaan, and to see the Holy One of Israel, the 
glory of Israel, the Lord Jesus. 

When the disciples saw but two of the fathers 
with Christ on Mount Tabor, covered with a 



APPENDIX. 



S23 



slight veil of glory, such as their bodily eyes 
were capable of, they were so ravished with the 
sight, that they said, it was good being there, 
(Matt, xvii, 4.) and would therefore have been 
building tabernacles there to dwell, and yet them- 
selves were but mere spectators of that glory; 
they were not transfigured: how mnch better 
will that Being be, where we shall not only 
be with Christ where he is, and behold his glory, 
as he prayed for us: (John xvii, 14.) and that 
with open face too, as St. Paul speaks, but shall 
be changed into the same image, from glory to 
glory. 2 Cor. hi, 18. 

Christ is said to be with us here, (Matt, 
xxviii, 29.) but we are never said to be with him 
in this world : he is with us by his Spirit here, but 
we shall be with him by our spirits when we 
die. Esse Christum cum Paulo magna securitas ; 
esse Paulum cum Chris to summa /elicit as, Ber- 
nard. Christ's presence with us by his Spirit is 
a great comfort to ours, but the heighth of glory 
is for us to be with him. 

When Israel had seen the face of Joseph, he 
was content to die. Gen. xlvi, 30. Noiv let me 
die, since I have seen thy face. And old Simeon, 
when he had seen Christ in the temple, sings his 
own requiem, Nunc dimitiis, — Now let test thou 
thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen 
thy salvation. Luke ii, 29. And have not we 



524 



APPENDIX. 



as good reason to be willing, at least with our 
dismission, that so we may come to see him, and 
his (that is, our own) salvation? Israel must die, 
that he may fully make good the first-mentioned 
signification of his name, that he may see God; 
for the beatifical vision can never be, till death 
hath closed the bodily eyes. It was a speech of 
the heathen orator, in his Book De Senectute, 
that he was much taken with a desire to see the 
Roman patriots, that were dead, ^hom he loved 
and honoured ; and not them only whom he had 
seen and known before, but those that he had 
read and heard of. # How much more reason 
have we to desire to see our fathers, and holy 
friends, with all the eminent saints of God, that 
we have read, and heard of ; to see them, I say, 
in such a state of glory as he never dreamed of? 
Prcestolatur nos Ecclesia Primitivorum, desi- 
derant nos Sancti, expectant nos Justi, &c. They 
expect us, saith the devout Abbot of Claraval, 
It is part of their hopeful desires to see us, and 
bid us welcome ; and shall we then be unwilling 
to go to them, that so kindly long and wait for 
us ? We find in the Old Testament many of the 
saints singing Loth to depart, and deprecating 



* Equidem efferor studio patres vestros, quoscolui' et dilexi 
videndi. Neque vero eos solum convenire aveo quos ipse 
cognovi, sed ilios etiam de quibus audivi et legi. Cic de Sen. 



» 



APPENDIX. 



525 



their threatened dissolutions ; which some think 
was, because the promise of eternal life was but 
obscurely known to them : the sight of heaven 
clouded from them, as the type of it in the 
temple was hidden from the people by the veil: 
but this cloud is cleared up by the gospel, and 
Moses' veil is taken away, Christ hath brought 
life and immortality to light. 2 Tim. i, 10. It 
becomes not Christians therefore to retain the 
Old Testament spirit still to shrink at the sight 
of death, but to be ready to say as St. Paul did, 
/ desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, 
which is, ttqkku fxaKKov H§Ei<r<rov, far better. The 
phrase looks like a Solecism in the Greek, but 
we should not have gone about to mend it in 
English, by abating the sense, in giving but one 
adverb for two ; very far or very much better, the 
words signify. 

What long and tedious journeys have many a 
devout Pilgrim taken, to see nothing but the old 
land of Canaan, now turned into iEgypt; the 
place where sometimes the Fathers lived and 
died, but so long since, that their very graves are 
buried, and not to be found. 

To conclude this point : 

Brethren, let us but be sure we are true Israel- 
ites indeed, in faith and holiness, and then never 
let us fear death. 



526 



APPENDIX. 



II. 1 have done with the first point, Israels 
death, with the necessity, reason, and use of it. 
The second follows ; and that is, the time of 
Israel's death. The royal preacher, (Eccles. iii,l.) 
saith, To every thing there is a season, and a time to 
every purpose under the heaven ; and then by way 
of induction sets down a large catalogue of 
things that have their time here below. I may 
call it his Fasciculus temporum, as an old author 
calls his book : all his instances are no other than 
the ordinary changes of an earthly life. And it 
is well noted by St. Ambrose upon the first verse, 
where he saith, that there is a time for every thing 
under the heaven: that all things under heaven 
are temporal, and by consequence, mutable. But 
the Psalmist saith, The heavens themselves shall 
be changed. Ps. cii, 26. He means those visible 
heavens: the sun itself, and the stars that are 
above it, as well as all things under it, shall be 
changed. But in the heaven of heavens there 
will be no change, because no such thing as 
time will be there : all is eternal in heaven : but 
under heaven all things have their time. The 
lowest story of the heavens, by the philosophers' 
account, is that of the moon, which is the com- 
mon emblem of mutability : and if you count the 
particulars of Solomon's changes in that chapter, 
you shall find just as many as are the days in a 



APPENDIX. 



527 



common 1 unary month, twenty-eight, and all of 
them like the changes of the moon, nothing but 
increasing and decreasing. The whole set of his 
changes is drawn chequerwise, by a just division 
of white and black, good and evil things, after 
the pattern that God gave when he first set the 
division of times, by dividing of light from dark- 
ness, and making each day to divide itself into 
an evening and a morning : and the first instance 
that Solomon gives of his temporalities, is that of 
the morning and evening of man's life : a time to 
be born, and a time to die. The primitive 
Christians confounded the distinction of these 
two times, by calling the days of their martyr's 
deaths their Natalitia, or birth-days. And the 
holy preacher, (chap, vii, 1.) prefers the time of 
death before that of birth : the coffin before the 
cradle. And though that be a paradox, as some 
other things are, which he there adds, yet it is no 
Paralogy in reason; but so evidently true, as 
some mere naturalists have found reason to grant 
it ; else would not the Thracians have wept at 
their births, and rejoiced at their funerals. I 
have no leisure now to unriddle that paradox: 
but in the mean time it is certain there is a time 
to die, as sure as a time to be born ; nay, more 
sure indeed ; never man was born, but either is 
dead, or must die; except some one or two, 
Enoch and Elias, that were privileged by miracle; 



528 



APPENDIX. 



and that privilege, said Tertullian, was but a 
reprieve or a suspension for a time, till Antichrist 
comes, and then they must be slain for the two 
witnesses, spoken of by St. John, Rev. xi, 7. But 
St. Paul hath given us another exception ; namely, 
of all those which shall be found alive at the 
resurrection, when the Lord Jesus shall come again 
to judge both the quick and the dead: that is, not 
the righteous that lived by faith, and the wicked 
that died in their sins, as Augustine and Chrysos- 
tome allegorize the words; nor yet the immor- 
tal soul, and the mortal body, as Theophylact 
glosseth the text: but as St. Paul interprets, 
those that are alive at his coming, and those that 
shall be dead before. 1 Thess. iv, 15, 17. For 
we shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed. 
1 Cor. xv, 52, The vulgar latin denies that 
change, and therefore hath strangely changed 
the text, as may be seen. The Pontificians will 
not admit their exemption from death : and we 
shall not now dispute the point. But with these 
exceptions, and possibly some few others not 
recorded in Scripture, it is certain never man was 
born, nor shall be, but had, or must have, a time 
to die. But many an one hath found a time to 
die that never was born : their time to die having 
prevented their time to be born. Many have 
been seen dead, that never were seen alive ; and 
many are dead that never were seen at all. It is 



APPENDIX. 



529 



too plain a point to spend time upon : if Israel 
must die, he must have a time for it. But 
whether that time were certain and fixed, or not, 
is a solemn question ; # large and learned debates 
are made about it, and strong contests between 
the physician and the divine. The question is 
not to be resolved from this text, and I have 
now no leisure to look into many others : but 
seeing the hairs of our head are numbered, it is 
more than probable so are the days, yea the 
hours, and minutes of our lives. A sparrow 
falls not to the ground without God's Providence, 
much less doth a man. The great world hath 
its last day set and certain to him that made it: 
so sure hath every little world ; but of that day 
and hour hnoweth no man. But certain it is, to 
God nothing is uncertain : the doctrine of his 
prescience (except with the Socinians, we will 
•deny the universal extent of it) will demonstrate 
the truth in this question, in the affirmative : for 
that which is not certain, cannot be certainly 
foreseen. Yet will it not follow that this event, 
and all things else, are absolutely necessary, by 
a fatal connexion, or necessary operation and 
efficacy of their particular causes, according to 
the opinion of the new Stoic, to whom I can 



* Bevejrovitius de termino vitse, 
M m 



530 



APPENDIX. 



allow the name of a philosopher,* but not of a 
Christian, till he hath recanted his Leviathan of 
heresies : wherein he allows men the liberty of 
an express denial of Christ, if the infidel magis- 
trate commands it :| so making all martyrs rebels 
to their princes, and murtherers of themselves. 
The man is no professed Turk, (thank a christian 
magistrate) but hath told us in effect he would 
be so, as well in other points as that of his fatality, 
if his prince would have him : for the Alcoran 
with the civil sanction, is by his doctrine as 
canonical as the Gospel. Whether it be certain 
which Cajetan and Alvarez have resolved, namely, 
that to comprehend how the decrees and con- 
course of God's will, doth agree with the liberty 
of man's will; (whereupon the time of death 
seems much to depend) is above the understand- 
ing of any man in this life, I well know not : but 
I am willing to confess it is above mine. Above 
my understanding I say it is, so are divers other 
mysteries of our religion, but I thank God not 
above my faith. For this I believe, that neither 
God's prescience, nor his decrees, do infer, much 
less cause any necessity in the manner of the 
production of their objects: because God hath 
decreed, and therefore foreseen that many things 



* Mr. T. H. 



f Pag. 271. 



APPENDIX. 



531 



shall not be necessarily but contingently, and yet 
certainly produced. 

But to turn to the prefixed parts of my dis- 
course. We have dispatched two of them, — The 
necessity of Israel's death, and the time of it : two 
more are remaining, wherein I must be brief. 

The next is the appropinquation of the time ; 
The time drew nigh, or the days drew nigh, that 
Israel must die. When Pharaoh asked him how 
old he was, (ver. 9.) he told him, his days were 
few, and spake it not in reference only to the 
time past of his life, but, as he is commonly 
understood with respect to the whole expected 
term thereof ; and that being so, the time of his 
death could never be far off. Indeed nothing 
can be far off, that is within the bounds of time : 
much less can the day of death be so, in a life 
that is short; and such is the longest mortal life. 
Israel's days were few m comparison of the 
days of his fathers, as he interprets himself, yet 
were they as many again as the ordinary num- 
ber of man's days, by Moses's reckoning: for 
Israel lived one hundred and forty- seven years, 
as you may read in the verse before my text: 
and the days of our years, saith Moses, (Ps. xc, 
10.) are but seventy years, and scarce the 
seventieth person lives so long ; and yet Moses 
himself lived almost twice as long, and so did his 
brother Aaron, but they were extraordinaries. 

Mm 2 



532 



APPENDIX. 



The life of man in Scripture is usually reckoned 
by days, which are the shortest natural divisions 
of time ; and sometimes it is called but one day: 
and the longest mortal life that ever was, came 
short of one day, by God's account, to whom 
a thousand years are but as one day. And now 
he that lives longest, seldom attains to one hour, 
or the twelfth part of such a day. The known 
shortness of life, set forth in Scripture by a multi- 
tude of similitudes, is demonstration enough to 
any man, that his time to die draws nigh. But 
that is a comparative word admitting of many 
degrees : in a short way the end is always near, 
but grows nearer the more steps a man hath set 
in it. So was it with Israel, he had multiplied 
his steps till he was come to the stage that 
David spake of, (lSam. xx, 3.) There is but a 
step between me and death. 

The time drew nigh that Israel must die ; now 
when he spake to Joseph about his burial, as 
followeth in the verse: but how nigh we know 
not precisely, no more perhaps did he. All 
the Astrologers in iEgypt could not precisely 
tell him the day and hour of his death : yet have 
we a company of gypsies of that profession, that 
will pretend to do it. But they are well con- 
futed by S. Augustine, # from the example of 



* De Civit. Dei. 1. 5. 



APPENDIX. 



533 



these twins, Jacob and Esau, whose birthtime 
was as near, as in nature it was possible: for 
Esau was not quite born before Jacob ; Jacob's 
hand was born before Esau's foot : and yet we 
know the disposition of their bodies, and of their 
minds, with the manner of their lives, was as 
contrary, as if they had been born under the 
most opposite horoscopes that are in the whole 
sphere of heaven, Moses was brought up in all 
the wisdom and learning' of iEgypt, (as St. 
Stephen saith, Acts vii, 22.) that is, in the 
sciences of Physic and Astrology, the most 
famous learning of iEgypt ; and yet could he not 
number his own days, but prays to God in his 
Psalm to teach him that art. Ps. xc, 12. Nor 
did he desire to know the precise number of his 
days, but only the wisdom to consider the paucity 
of them, so as to improve them to the honor of 
God, and the good of himself and his church. 
To know the just time of our death, is not pos- 
sible without a revelation ; and therefore not to 
be desired without presumption. It is a thing 
that depends much upon the arbitrary acts of 
the will of both a man's self, and of others (as 
constant experience teachetrT) the knowledge 
w T hereof is the peculiar property of Omniscience : 
and therefore for men to pretend to this know- 
ledge from the stars is an impiety, not much 
less than that of worshipping them, being a bold 



534 



APPENDIX. 



intrusion into the most peculiar and essential 
privilege of divine knowledge. It is enough for 
us to know as much as Israel did, that our time 
to die draws nigh, and so much every man doth 
know, that knows any thing at all. 

Lyra thinks Israel did know the precise time 
of his death by a spirit of prophecy: and such a 
spirit we know he had, about that time especially 
when his time to die drew nigh ; as appeared by 
the prophetical blessings which he then gave to 
his sons. But to know that his time to die was 
nigh,- he needed no prophetic spirit now, when 
he was an old man, and bed-rid, as you may 
find in the end of the chapter, ver. 31. Well 
might he tell that his few days were almost 
spent, when his evil days (as Solomon calls 
them, Eccles. xii, 1.) were come, and the years 
did not draw 7 near, but were upon him, wherein 
he might say, jT have no pleasure in them. The 
sun and the light, the moon and the stars, were 
darkened. All the faculties of his soul and 
body were weakened. The keepers of the house 
trembled, and the strong men bowed themselves. 
His arms were so weak that he could scarce 
strengthen them to lay them upon the heads of 
his nephews, to bless them ; and his legs could 
no longer bear his body, so that he was fain to 
lie by it. They that looked out of the windows 
(which some understand of glass windows or 



APPENDIX. 



535 



spectacles) were darkened. His eyes were dim 
with age ; and when a man comes to that once, 
that he is almost blind with age, he cannot but 
see that his time to die draws nigh. A man 
needs not to be told his lamp is nigh out, when 
he sees and feels that the oil is spent, and 
knows there is no more to be bought; to h 

wahouxiAzvov km yygaaKov, sfyvg acpcxvia^y Heb. viii, 13. 

There are many warnings of death, in diseases 
of the body, perils and troubles of life, such as 
David met withal, when he said, My soul is full 
of troubles, and my life draws near to the grave, 
Ps. lxxxviii, 3. And some extraordinary warn- 
ings we read of, which some have had from God 
himself. Such as Moses, Aaron, and Hezekiah 
had ; and the rich fool in the Gospel, Stulte, hac 
node; Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be 
required of thee. In human story there are 
multitudes of examples of them, that have had 
warnings, predictions, presages, and omens of 
approaching^ death, especially great persons : the 
Historian* hath some of them almost in every one 
of his Twelve Csesars. But few men were ever 
the wiser or the better for such uncertain, and 
for the most part unregarded warnings. There 
is no warning so infallible as that of old age ; all 



* Suetonius. 



536 



APPENDIX. 



others may prove but false alarums, useful to 
awaken men out of security, and move them to 
make ready: but when the old man comes once, 
especially that same r^oy^wv, Silicernium, when 
he comes upon crutches, when he is blind and led, 
be brings certain tidings that death is at hand. 

There are many affirmative signs of the near- 
ness of death, that are certain, and old age is one 
of them : but negative signs there are none, that 
is, to shew that it is not near. A young man 
doth not, cannot know, but that his time to die 
may be nigh, but an old man knows it is so. 

Life in Scripture is sometimes compared to a 
shadow, so is death too ; and the heathen poet 
made it less, but the dream of a shadow, and 
that but of smoak* Now shadows we know are 
not all of a length, some are longer and some are 
shorter, as life also is. But the longer the shadow 
is, the more like, and the more near, to night. 
Jer. vi, 4. Longiores facta sunt umbrce vesperi. 
Life is a vanishing shadow at all times, but the 
longer it is, the nearer is the night of death. 
Indeed our present life in the flesh is but the 
shadow of life to the soul, darkened as now it 
is oppanso corporis^ fTertullian's word) with the 



* ovocp av§p®7ro$. Pindar. Kai ttitcv xfev (jlczKKqv y 

Kairvaa-ma Msebylus. 

f Ti$ oiSzv si to £w err KalSavsiv, to Kafyavsiv $e fvjv. 
Euripid. 



APPENDIX. 



537 



opacity of the body. The Greek tragedian could 
not tell whether it should be called life or no. 
The ghosts or spirits of men when they are out 
of the body are usually called umbra, shadows, 
and that most like because of their incorporiety ; 
but so termed they are too, from the imaginary 
configuration with the body, which in visions 
they have appeared to have, and which Tertullian 
and lrencsus (upon the parable of Lazarus and 
Dives,) thought they really have. In which 
respect they are also called xapovlw, in 

Homer, as images of the body; and that they 
are not altogether incorporeal themselves, but 
have a kind of avyoEihs a-upa, a splendid or lucid 
body, hath been the opinion of some divines, 
as well as philosophers. We use to compare 
old thin bodies to ghosts and shadows in com- 
mon speech ; and so not the old man himself, 
but every body that meets him, knows that his 
time to die draws nigh. Other men may see it, 
but himself must needs feel the cold-numbed 
hands of death coming upon him, before they give 
the fatal gripe. 

Thus Israel knew that his time drew nigh that 
he must die. So doth every old man, and every 
young one too ; but every one doth not consider 
it as Israel did. That is the last point in my 
method; Israel's foresight or consideration of the 
appropinquation of death. This I told you I 



538 



APPENDIX. 



would note from the word cerneret in the vulgar 
latin, because it agrees well with the sense, 
though it be not in the original text. To see 
death in Scripture phrase is to die: but in strict- 
ness of sense death cannot be seen, because it is 
nothing but darkness; and when it conies, it 
doth not only close, but put out the eyes. The 
Angel of Death, as the Jews call it, is invisible : 
but though it be so to bodily sense, yet is there 
a reasonable theory to be had of death, and 
nothing more unreasonable than not to foresee it. 
That old prayer in the Litany is without excep- 
tion in the Latin phrase, A morte improvisa libera 
nos Domine. He that doth not foresee death, 
cannot be provided for it ; and he that is not, 
must needs be eternally undone by it. 

We complain all, of shortness of life, and need 
not hear so often of the physician's aphorism, or 
the rabbin's sentence, to persuade the truth of 
it : and yet so little do we consider it, that we 
spend it as prodigally, as if it were too long, as 
indeed it is, for them that abuse it. And who 
almost doth not ? # The time we have is not so 
little, as that we lose is much : we commonly 
use it as if we knew not what to do with it, 
and therefore we throw away the best part of it. 



* Non parum temporis habemus, sed multum perdiraus. Sen. 



APPENDIX. 



539 



What large shares of it do we squander away 
upon vain and idle company, and trifle away 
upon foolish mirth, miscalled recreations, vain 
and worse pastimes, balls and revels, drolleries, 
and amorous courtships ? What a great deal of 
it do we let the world steal from us, besides all 
that is necessarily due to it? How great a part 
of it do we suffer the devil to run away with? 
How many of our few days do we utterly waste 
in doing nothing, or worse than nothing? And 
is it not justice then in God to afford but a short 
allowance of that, which he sees, is and will be 
so much abused to his own dishonour, and the 
hurt of the unhappy possessors ? Nay, is it not 
mercy indeed, rather than justice, to shorten their 
days, that will make no other use of them than 
to their eternal ruin ? And how few are they 
that make any better improvement of their time ? 
Such Abaddons and Apollyons men are of their 
time, and therein of their own souls. 

No time is long enough to bewail, nor words 
enough, or sharp enough, to reprove the wretched 
waste that is made of this invaluable treasure, 
which so many men spend only to treasure up 
wrath against the day of wrath. It is a dreadful 
thing to say, but more dreadful to see, that the 
main business that many men spend their lives in, 
is scarce any other, or better, than such as tends 
to the assuring of their everlasting death, and 



540 



APPENDIX. 



the certain prevention of that life, which only 
is long. Oh that men should be so caitively 
disposed, so malicious to their own souls, and so 
kind to the devil ! 

Who knows not that it is as impossible to secure 
his life for one day, while he enjoys it, as it is to 
recover it for another, when it is once lost? And 
who will not grant that his end may be nearer 
than the end of the present day ? and yet where 
is the man that will be persuaded to consider 
how near his time to die is, or may be ? Every 
man puts it far off, few are willing to hear of the 
approach of it, at any hand. When the physician 
tells men that death is near, many are not willing 
to believe him. But for the Divine's warning, 
who hath regarded it? Did men regard the 
admonition of the divine, concerning the approach 
of death, they should not be so much troubled 
at the physician's warning. 

Did the old man consider, as well as know, 
that h:s time to die draws nigh, one would think 
he could not, in despite of his own reason, be 
such a sot, as still to dote so much upon the 
world, to carp and care to load himself with a 
viaticum of thick clay, when his journey is at an 
end : to fraught his old leaking vessel, when he 
is either in sight of his port, or splitting upon 
the sands? Nay, did the young man consider 
how near his time to die may be, he would think 



APPENDIX. 



541 



it no such unseasonable counsel that Solomon 
gives him, To remember his Creator in the days of 
his youth, before the evil days (of old age) come, 
which perhaps shall never come : perhaps, did I 
say ? nay, it is very great odds they shall not ! 
Say thou wantest yet forty years or more of the 
seventy, it is more than forty to one thou never 
comest at that number. What is the reason that 
men generally do so wilfully and obstinately 
neglect the great business of working out their 
own salvation? That they do so slight and 
vilify their spiritual and eternal interest, as if it 
were a matter of no valuable concernment : a sin 
which no pagan can parallel, nay, which the 
devil himself cannot be guilty of, and perhaps 
would not, if he might be so happy as to be 
but once more tried. What is the reason men do 
so little regard that word of God, which is able to 
make them tvise unto salvation, as either not to hear 
it at all, or with so little affection, as if it were no 
more than a good fashionable piece of religious 
invention? What is the reason we can prevail 
no more with men, by all our pressed exhorta- 
tions, admonitions, public and private, to for- 
sake their sins, by a sincere repentance, and 
thorough reformation, to make good that solemn 
vow which they made in baptism, to be christians 
indeed, and not to deceive their own souls with 
a mistaken notion of a mere fruitless, ineffectual 



542 



APPENDIX. 



pretence or presumption of faith ? What is the 
reason men are so inexorable to the practice of 
an holy life, without which (we tell them from 
Scripture, and they do not, cannot deny it,) it is 
as impossible for them to be saved, as it is for 
God to lie? Heb. xii, 14. Is not this the com- 
mon reason of all this damnable obstinacy, and 
worse than diabolical wretchedness r Namely, 
because men will not believe or consider that 
their time to die draws nigh. As much as 
Atheism is now increased in this nation, by the 
Antiperistasis of a pretended reformation, I am 
yet confident the absolute infidels are much the 
fewest in number. Most men do yet retain an 
opinion at least of the verity of the Scriptures, 
and of the common doctrines of a judgment to 
come, after this life, of the happiness of heaven, 
and of the contrary miseries of hell : and there- 
fore are presumable to intend some better care 
of their own souls, than they seem yet to have. 
But a pernicious presumption of the duration of 
life is that which invincibly hardens them against 
all exhortations to a present repentance. Such 
is the lamentable dotage, stupid, and stupendous 
irrationality of men in this point, as no tongue 
can express. 

I will yet close with a few words of exhor- 
tation: though I have already expressed my little 
experience, or hopes of success therein. Since 



APPENDIX. 



543 



Israel (the best men) must die, let us make 
much of them whilst they live, and labour to 
get as much of their blessings as we can before 
they be gone. 

And since we all must find a time to die, Oh! 
let us be careful to find a time to live : and let 
us not make our lives short, by not living till we 
be ready to die. Seeing we know our time to 
die is nigh, let us not be so mad as to put it far 
off. Take heed of setting death at a far distance, 
lest we be fatally deceived, as millions have been 
to their eternal perdition. Oh ! let the time past 
of our lives suffice us to have wrought the will 
of the flesh, and let us no longer live the rest 
of our time after the lust of men, but after the 
will of God. Oh ! let us be so wise as to redeem 
the time, seeing our days have been so many and 
evil, and are now so few. 

What a desperate wretched thing it is to put 
off the time of repentance still, when our time to 
die is so near ! To trust upon to-morrow, when 
we cannot call this whole day our own without 
a revelation. To leave the great work to do 
till night, when our Saviour hath told us, no man 
can work. 

Never man repented him of repenting too soon ; 
but every true penitent, as well as St. Augustine, 
will heartily bewail, and confess with shame his 



544 



APPENDIX. 



deferring of it too long, though it hath been but 
for a few years in his youth. 

It may be in some sense true, which some 
divines will scarce acknowledge, that it can 
never be too late to repent : but it is much more 
evident, and more safe to consider, that it can 
never be too soon. It is a very great folly (and 
fault too) in them that have estates to defer the 
making of their wills, till the time to die draws 
so nigh, that either they can make none, or no 
other than such as may be questioned whether 
it was their's or no : so hath many a man undone 
the greatest part of his posterity, by leaving them 
under a violent temptation of hazarding their 
souls to provide for their bodies. But infinitely 
more desperate is their adventure, that defer the 
disposing of their souls till the same straits of 
time : hereby many a forlorn soul have been 
utterly prevented of any possibility of repentance, 
by the sudden loss either of life or understand- 
ing; and many more infinitely hazarded by being 
able at last to act that one thing necessary, after 
no better fashion than such as is extremely 
doubtful, whether it be to any purpose. Yet 
is this the epidemical madness of men, to be as 
unwilling to dispose of their souls, as of their 
estates, till they see or fear they can keep neither 
any longer : and then in their wills (but scarce 



APPENDIX. 



545 



with them) they make a formal bequest of both 
together. And if God had no more right to the 
one, than men have to the other, this practice 
were tolerable : but considering God's interest 
in the soul, which ought ever to have been 
devoted to his service, for men to give it or sell 
it to the world, or the devil all their life-time; 
and then at last (in an hypocritical imitation of 
our blessed Lord, and his first martyr's last 
words, to bequeath it to God, is no other than 
a wicked sacrilege, under such a possibility only 
of pardon, as remains for the sin unto death, that 
St. John speaks of. 

Two or three serious and sad considerations 
I have to propound by way of query to him that 
defers his repentance till his time to die draws 
nigh : — 1. Whether it be not a direct mocking of 
God, and of a man's own reason, to resolve to 
continue in a course of sin, with a purpose to 
repent of it at last? Would not we think 
ourselves impudently mocked by him that should 
tell us, he would first do us an injury, or an 
affront, and afterward repent him of it and cry 
us mercy? And is not this the plain sense of 
every wicked heart, that pretends to any resolu- 
tion of a future repentance ? Besides, what can 
be more grossly absurd in reason, than for a man 
to resolve at the present upon the doing of that 

N n 



546 



APPENDIX. 



which he knows he must, and therefore resolves 
he will afterward repent of? 

2. If true repentance in Scripture sense sig- 
nifies an amendment or reformation of life, as 
certainly it doth, what difference is there between 
resolving never to repent at all, and resolving not 
to do it till his life is at an end ? 

3. Whether he that puts off his repentance till 
his death bed, doth not run the evident hazard of 
at least an hundred to one never to repent at all? 
Upon this common and notorious experiment, 
that not one of an hundred of the sick-bed 
penitents do prove true penitents, if ever they 
recover out of their sickness. But as I desire 
upon these (I think) very weighty considerations, 
that every soul should hasten his repentance- 
so will I the end of my present admonition to it : 
let us therefore labour so to live, as the nearer 
our time is to die, the better it may be for us. 
A good man never dies too soon : for others he 
may, but not for himself. Immature death is 
but improperly applied to a virtuous life : if we 
get to heaven when we die, we shall never 
complain of the shortness of the time of our exile 
from thence; nay, sure we shall rejoice it was 
no longer. But if we should be so woefully 
unhappy as to miss of heaven, we shall have 
much reason to lament that our life here was so 



APPENDIX. 



547 



long: for though the reprobate's punishment 
cannot be prolonged, because it is eternal, yet 
it will be much augmented by the many days of 
his ill-spent life. 

Let us be studious to provide with Israel for 
our transportation into Canaan when we are 
dead : and to this end, let us wrestle stoutly with 
our spiritual adversaries, to avoid the curseof sin 
and death; and wrestle with God, as he did, for 
the blessing of the grace of life, and that in time : 
so doing we shall be sure to be Israels to prevail 
with God, who is ever more than willing to yield, 
us the victory, if he could see us strive for it. 

We read of many ingenious devices the hea- 
thens had to put them in mind of death, as their 
feasts, and other opportunities of greatest joy; 
but all was for an heathenish end : namely, to 
excite them to seize greedily upon the present, 
and not to lose anything of the present enjoy- 
ments of this life, than which they knew no better. 
St. Paul hath given us their true meanings, in 
those evil words, as he calls them, corrupting 
good manners ; let us eat and drink, for to-morrow 
we shall die. 1 Cor. xv, 32. We cannot here 
want expedients to mind us of death, to a better 
purpose ; since if we go abroad, in every street 
we meet with a church-yard full of graves, and 
within doors we cannot sit or lie many hours 
without hearing soul-be\\s, as we call them. 

N n 2 



548 



APPENDIX. 



We generally dread the thought of dying 
extempore, as one of the greatest infelicities that 
can befall us : Oh! let us seek to prevent it, by 
preparing daily for that hour, upon a just and 
prudent consideration that it draws nigh. I can- 
not say that we are precisely bound (according 
to the ordinary advice, as well of heathens as 
divines, to account every day our last, or in all 
things so to spend it, as we would think it 
necessary or fit to do, if we knew, or did posi- 
tively believe it were so. All purposes, promises, 
and provisions for to-morrow were then unlawful, 
because unreasonable; and by this rule, no man 
should take a journey further than the house of 
God: but the meaning is, we should so spend* 
every day, as considering it may be the last ; 
and therefore be sure so to act, as if it should 
prove so, we might neither be afraid nor ashamed 
to be found so doing. 

I know not whether I be strictly bound to 
all those thoughts, and that mind, whilst I am 
writing this sermon, which Seneca saith he had, 
whilst he was writing one of his epistles ; Hoc 
animo tibi lianc Epistolam scribo tanquam cum 
maximb scribentem mors evocatura sit : # namely, 
that death should call me away whilst I am 



■ Sen. Ep. 62. 



APPENDIX. 



549 



writing. But so I write, as if I were now writing 
my last will, in a perfect state of health that is 
(though not without hopes of time and opportunity, 
to express myself better in some other copies 
hereafter, yet) with present seriousness, and 
sincerity of intention and desire, so to bequeath 
my talent, as God may be glorified, and my 
reader edified ; remembering that my own time 
to die draws nigh, and desiring he may do so too. 
Oh ! that men ivere wise, that they would under- 
stand this, that they would consider their latter end I 
The Lord teach me and thee to number our days, 
and to apply our hearts unto wisdom. Amen. 



I have now done with my text : but, as I told 
you, I have another to take in hand, and ye all 
know it. But something I must tell you, which 
perhaps you know not, by way of preface to what 
is to be spoken concerning that reverend person 
whose memory we are now to solemnize; namely, 
that it was a strict charge of his own, given to 
his son, whom he made his executor, and inserted 
into his last will, that he should be buried 
privately, without any solemnity: which order 
was agreeable to his known singular modesty and 
humility. And lest we should seem to transgress 
that command which we have thus made public, 
I must also tell you, that upon entreaty, his con- 



550 



APPENDIX. 



sent was obtained for a sermon to be preached 
for him after his funeral. 

Having then obeyed his first order in the day 
of his funeral, which was as private as could be, 
we think we are nevertheless obliged, jusia facer e, 
to do him some right in the interest of his name : 
and I heartily wish there had been one appointed 
that had been better able to do it. But seeing 
the task is fallen upon me, who must acknow- 
ledge my extreme insufficiency for such an office, 
I think I may, without ambition, take up for a 
wish the petition that Elisha made to his master 
Elijah, when he was to be taken away from him ; 
namely, that a double portion of the Spirit of my 
Lord might be upon me : that is, not that I might 
have double his gifts, that were too ambitious a 
wish ; but as I think the prophet meant, and as 
the same phrase is elsewhere used, that two parts 
of his spirit, the portion of a first-born son, might 
be upon me. The Hebrew word for portion in 
that text signifies properly a mouth, *s. And to 
be able to give this holy man his due, no mouth 
or tongue were so much to be wished as his 
own.* The world well knows he had a double 
portion of the gifts of the tongue above his 
brethren : and it is as well known he made a 



* Mov»£ Y\fAiv t$£i Tvif znzivx Quvyi; BHEivov sfxcoftia^na 'iv '. Naz, 
cle Basil. 



APPENDIX. 



551 



proportionable improvement thereof, for the ser- 
vice of the Lord and his Church. 

Two years together he was chosen rhetorick 
professor in the University of Cambridge, and per- 
formed the office with extraordinary applause. 

He was noted for a singular wit from his youth ; 
a most acute rhetorician, and an elegant poet. 
He understood many tongues ; and in the rheto- 
ric of his own, he was second to none that lived 
in his time. But, 

That which I shall further say of this holy man, 
shall be with reflection upon my text, in a short 
parallel of him with the patriarch Israel, of 
whom you have heard. And many things there 
are wherein they may be specially compared : 

First, the significations of the name Israel, 
which I mentioned, are notably agreeable to this 
eminent person. Israel, I told you, signifies 
either a man seeing God, or a right ( upright ) 
man of God, or one thai had power tvith God 
like a Prince. Each of these things were emi- 
nently agreeable to this person : first, Israel was 
a priest, and so was every Pater- familias in those 
times, as is said. We read of his offering sacri- 
fice several times : and a prophet he was too, 
one of those which the Psalmist speaks of in 
that known place, (Ps. cv, 15.) Touch not mine 
anointed, do my prophets no harm. You may 
find him named there in the context: (ver. 10.) 



552 



APPENDIX. 



And here in the next chapter but one, you may 
read his prophetical blessings that he gave to his 
sons, when the time drew nigh that he was to 
die. So was our father a priest, and that of the 
higher order; a seer, a prophet, and a father of 
the prophets. One that always made it his 
business to see and search into the things of 
God, with a zealous diligence, rather than a bold 
curiosity. He was one that conversed as much 
with God, and drew as nigh to him in divine 
meditation, which is the only ordinary way of 
seeing God in the flesh, as any man of his time. 
You all know he was a master in Israel, and 
another manner of one than Nicodemus. Op3o3b&a$ 
Train? hcci Adourxa*®-, as Gregory said of his father ; 
a father and a master of the orthodox faith. A 
great master he was, and one of the first that 
taught this church the art of divine meditation. 
Few men of his age have ascended so high upon 
Jacob's ladder as he did : he was one that with 
Israel lived and died in a Goshen of light in the 
midst of ^Egyptian darkness. 

Secondly, he was a right upright man too 
before God, a true Israelite indeed, in whom was 
no guile ; •?* «ws Rectus Dei, on u*x, as was said 
of Israel, Vir antiqua probitate simplicitateq ; 
prceditus. Et eruditis pietate, et piis eruditionis 
laude antecellens, ita secundas doctrince Jerens, ut 
pietatis primas obtineret, as Nazianzen saith of 



APPENDIX. 



553 



Basil. Those that were most eminent for learn- 
ing, he excelled in piety ; and those that were 
most famous for piety, he excelled in learning. 
This high priest's breast was richly adorned with 
the glorious Urim, and with the more precious 
jewel of the Thummim. 

Thirdly, he was one that wrestled with God 
much, and often in prayer, and prevailed much: 
and if we be yet capable of the blessing, I hope 
we shall one day enjoy the fruit of those prayers 
wherein he wrestled with God for this poor 
church. We read of Jacob's vows as well as of 
his visions, (Gen. xxviii, 20.) and it is the first 
vow that we read of in Scripture: and who 
hath not read, or heard at least, of this holy 
man's vows ? 

Thus the name agrees punctually in each sig- 
nification. 

We will now go on with the parallel of the 
persons. Israel was a smooth man of body, as 
himself saith, (Gen. xxxii, 11.) and a man of 
a plain, even, and modest spirit, as appeared by 
his scruples that he made about the way that his 
mother directed him to get his father's blessing. 
Such an one was our father, a man of a smooth, 
terse wit, and tongue, and of a calm, gentle, 
meek, and moderate spirit, as they all know that 
know anything of him : dopy-fl©-, yaMvog, to 

«3#?, §£pno; to TTVEVfAix, as Nazianzen saith of Ccesarius; 



554 



APPENDIX. 



a man of a mild, serene, and calm aspect, (who 
ever saw it ruffled into any appearance of dis- 
orderly passion?) and of a quick and lively spirit. 
He was not twice a child, though he lived long- 
enough to have been so,) but always one in our 
Saviour's sense, namely, in humility and inno- 
cence : one that much excelled in those dove- 
like fruits of the Spirit, which St. Paul mentions, 
(Gal. v, 22.) love, joy, peace, long *- suffering, gen- 
tleness, goodness, meekness, Sic. As loving, and 
as much beloved, as any man of his order in the 
three nations. One that got the birthright from 
heaven, and the blessing from men too, without 
dissembling for it ; whilst other rough JEsaus were 
hunting abroad for wild venison, thinking to 
please their father, he stayed quietly at home, 
and observing the directions of his mother the 
Church, went away smooth with the venison. 
Some strugglings he had with his rougher 
brethren, whom he did not strive so much to 
supplant, as to supple with his smooth moderation 
and humility: and so far he prevailed in this 
design, as that instead of ill words or knocks, 
he met with a kiss and respectful embracement 
from many of them that had been his adversaries, 
because they envied him the birthright of his 
order and dignity ; and all men honoured the 
Doctor, though some loved not the Bishop. 



APPENDIX. 



555 



Israel travelled into several countries, and was 
kindly entertained and respected wherever he 
came ; so did, and so was our father. He 
travelled with persons of honour into France, 
Germany, Holland, and Scotland ; and God was 
ever with him, wherever he went, as he was with 
Israel. Some troubles and perils he met with in 
his journeys, as Jacob did, when Laban pursued 
him with one troop, and Esau met him with 
another. But a kind Providence was ever ready 
to redeem him ; and God hath alivays holpen his 
servant Israel, 

Israel was a shepherd, and a faithful one, that 
took special care of his ilock, (Gen. xxxi, 40.) 
and great pains night and day in watching over 
them for twenty years together : and our Israel 
was a faithful shepherd, that diligently watched 
over the flocks that his master committed to his 
charge, and took extraordinary pains in feeding 
them for above twenty years together. Whilst 
he was the private pastor first of Halstead in 
Suffolk, and after of Waltham in Essex, he 
preached thrice a week in a constant course: yet, 
as himself witnessed, " never durst climb up into 
the pulpit to preach any sermon, ivhereof he had 
not before penned every ivord in the same order 
wherein he hoped to deliver it ; although in his 
expresssions he was no slave to syllables, neither 
made use of his notes" 



556 



APPENDIX. 



Nor did his industry either cease, or so much 
as abate at his preferments. He hath given the 
world as good an account of his time as any man 
in it ; as one that knew the value of time, and 
esteemed the loss of it more than a temporal loss, 
because it hath a necessary influence upon eter- 
nity. It is well known in this city how forward 
he was to preach in any of our churches, till he 
was first forbidden by men, and at last disabled 
by God. 

And when he could not preach himself as oft 
and as long as he was able, this learned Gamaliel 
was not content only, but very diligent to sit at 
the feet of the youngest of his disciples ; as dili- 
gent an hearer as he had been a preacher. How 
oft have we seen him walking alone, like old 
Jacob, with his staff, to Bethel, the house of 
God? 

Israel was fruitful in children, and so was our 
father, and that without the polygamy of Israel ; 
being the husband but of one wife, a grave, virtu- 
ous matron, with whom he lived forty-nine years. 
But Israel at last wanted bread for himself and 
his family : I cannot say this man did so, but 
how near he came to it, and by what means we 
all know; but must not complain because he 
never did. He had not the kindness that Israel 
had in Egypt, to have any allowance for his 
maintenance from the lord of the country, yet he 



APPENDIX. 



557 



never wanted. He was indeed a rare mirror of 
patience under all his crosses, which toward his 
latter end were multiplied upon him. The loss 
of his estate he seemed insensible of, as if he had 
parted with all with as good content as Jacob 
did with a good part of his to pacify his angry 
brother, having well learned as well to want as 
to abound. I have heard him oft bewail the 
spoils of the church, but very rarely did he so 
much as mention his own losses, but took joyfully 
the spoiling of his goods. When he was laid 
among the pots, that is, saith the Septuagint and 
the vulgar latin, inter cleros, yet was he as the 
wings of a dove covered with silver, and her 
feathers with yellow gold. Ps. lxviii, 13. 

Of late years, and especially the last, he was 
sorely afflicted with bodily diseases, and bore 
them all with as much patience, as hath been 
seen in any flesh, except that of our Saviour's. 
We have heard of the patience of Job, but never 
saw a fairer copy of it, than was in this man. 

Israel lived to be very old, as you may read 
in the verse before my text, and at last grew so 
weak, that he was scarce able to rise up upon 
his bed to bless his children ; (Gen. xlviii, 2.) so 
was it with our father. Methinks 1 see him yet, 
as he was upon his bed, how he strengthened 
himself to confirm others that sought it, with his 
fatherly blessing, as Israel did the sons of Joseph; 



558 



APPENDIX. 



and that too with the same good old ceremony 
which Jacob first used, namely, the laying on of 
his hands. His days were few and evil, in Jacob's 
comparative sense ; and yet many and good, for 
he died in a good old age, full of days, and full 
of good works : canus virtutibus, white with vir- 
tues. He came to his grave in a full age, like as 
a shock of corn comet h in his season. Job v, 26. 
He was crowned with the silver crown of age in 
his grey hairs, (Prov. xvi, 31.) and now is crowned 
with the golden crown of immortality. 

When his time drew nigh that he must die, he 
much longed for death, and was ready to bid it 
welcome, and spake always very kindly of it. 
It was an odd word of St. Francis when the 
physicians told him the time of death drew nigh, 
Bene veniat, inquit, soror Mors, welcome, my sister 
death. The expression of Job is not much unlike, 
(Job xvii, 14.) / have said to corruption, thou art 
my father; to the worm, thou art my mother and 
my sister: so did this good man welcome death, 
as if he had been to embrace a mother or a sister 
He took good notice of the approach of death, 
and set his house in order as Israel did, by dis- 
tributing the blessings that God had left him to 
his children. He endeavoured also to prepare 
others for that change by his last books, and last 
sermons that he preached, which were all upon 



APPENDIX. 



559 



the last things, Death and Judgment, Heaven 
and Hell. 

Israel left his children in Egypt when he died, 
but with a prophetical promise of their return 
into Canaan: our Israel hath left us, I may not 
say in bondage, but in a sad condition, and left 
us without a prophecy, though not without his 
prayers for our happy return into Canaan. Well, 
he is gone: Non nobis ereptus sed pericidis, as 
Ambrose said of his brother (in that most elegant 
oration which he made, De obitu fratris,) taken 
away not so much from us, as from the perils of 
the times. It was some comfort to him that he 
lived not to see the funeral of the church, though 
he saw it drawing home, almost at last gasp. 
And if there could be as much sorrow in heaven 
for the perverseness of sinners, as there is joy at 
their conversion, doubtless this holy man could 
not yet be at rest. But Abraham is ignorant of 
us, and Israel knows us not. Isa. Ixiii, 16. And 
the more happy is he if he doth not, and I hope 
we are never the more unhappy, for whether he 
knows of our state or not, it is piously to be 
believed, he prays for us, o$ oi^ai, as Nazianzen 
said of Basil. 

When Israel died, the Egyptians mourned for 
him : (Gen. 1, 3.) and I am persuaded so do some 
of the worst of men for our father. 



560 



APPENDIX. 



The streights of time both for preparing and 
delivering this testimony of his life, hath enforced 
me to pass over the particulars of his preferments, 
dignities, and honourable employments by his 
prince; amongst -which, that to the Synod of 
Dort would not else have been forgotten ; 
especially for the great respect he had there from 
the foreign divines and states. And his excellent 
moderation shewed in those unhappy disputes, 
concerning w r hich he afterward drew up such a 
collection of accorded truths, as was offered to 
be subscribed by some of the most eminent 
parties on both sides : which reconciliatory papers 
then unhappily buried, are very much to be desired, 
and may be hoped for in time, together with a 
completer account of his life written by himself. 
But whatever becomes of them, he was one 
whose moderation ivas known to all men; and his 
zeal for an holy peace in the church, is abundantly 
manifested by those writings of his, which are 
already extant. 

I cannot so much as mention all his virtues, 
but must not forget so great an one as that of his 
charity: which above and before all things, as the 
two great Apostles exhort,* he was careful to put 
on : besides his spiritual alms of prayers, godly 



* Em Traoi, Col. iii, 14. Travlw, 1 Pet. iv } 8. 



APPENDIX. 



561 



admonitions, comforts, and holy counsels, whereof 
he was very liberal. 

His bodily alms were constant and bountiful. 
In the parish where he last lived, he gave a 
weekly voluntary contribution of money to certain 
poor widows to his dying day, over and above 
his imposed rates, wherein he was never spared. 
And as the Widoivs handful of meal, and her 
cruise of oil did not waste by feeding the old 
prophet; so did this prophet's barrel that was 
low, and his cruise that was little, not hold out 
only, but seemed to increase by feeding the 
widows, as appeared by that liberal addition of 
alms which he gave by his will to the town where 
he was born, and to this city where he died. 

If ever there were a man that could speak with 
the tongues of men and angels, he was one. But 
such there are who are, as Justin Martyr calls 
them, ou fxsv Qfootropoi, otXKa (piKo^opot, or, as the apostle 
saith, no better than a sounding brass, or a tink- 
ling cymbal, being without charity. But our 
father was one that had learned of St. Paul that 
same K a& utte^o^v ofov, (1 Cor. xii, 31.) the more 
excellent way of charity, which he also shewed 
unto others. He was one, that, as St. John 
exhorts, loved not in word, or in tongue only, but 
in deed and in truth, (1 John iii, 18,) and shewed 
it plentifully upon all occasions^ One that had 

O o 



562 



APPENDIX. 



Jacob's voice, but could never endure so much 
as the disguise of Esau's churlish hands. 

Four things are yet remaining with us below, 
of this heavenly saint : his children, his works, 
his body, and his name. First, his children. I 
may say of him, as St. Ambrose said of Theodo- 
sius the Emperor, Non totus recessit, reliqait nobis 
liberos in quibus eum debemus agnoscere, et in 
quibus eum cernimus et tenemus, he is not all gone, 
he hath left us a good portion of himself behind 
in his sons, in whom we may yet see him, and 
hold him. I shall not wish any one of them the 
double portion of their father's spirit, but rather 
that they may be, as indeed they are, all co-heirs 
thereof. 

For his works, I hope with reverence I may 
lawfully say of them, as the Psalmist doth of 
God's, that they all praise him, because all men 
praise them. At least I may say, as the Spirit 
doth in the Apocalypse, Blessed is the dead that 
died in the Lord, for he resteth from his labours, 
and his works follow him. Blessed is he, because 
his works, that is, the reward of them, follow him; 
and we are blessed because they are left behind 
him. That which Nazianzen said of Basil's 
works, may truly be said of this man's, ettei kou 

tcc Trapepyci th avtyog tcov 7T0V8[A£vqv srepoig ttq'Kv rifMioTE^a. kui 

7TE$l<p<XV£<T£ptX. 

His by-businesses, his occasional meditations, 



APPENDIX. 



563 



are more precious than the elaborate works of 
other men. 

For his body, that is already laid up in his 
dormitory, without the honourable ceremony of 
embalming, which Israel had. Gen. 1, 2. But 
though he wanted that, and other ceremonies of 
deserved honour, which his own humility and 
the envy of the times denied him, yet doth he 
not want that which the wise man saith is better 
than a precious oil or ointment, (Eccles. vii, 1.) 
namely, a good name. For I may say of this 
man's name, as the spouse speaks of the name of 
her beloved, that it is an ointment poured forth. 
Cant, i, 3. An ointment that carrieth with it all 
the excellencies of a precious oil ; that is, besides 
the rich ingredients wherewith it is substantially 
compounded; these three accidental qualities 
too, of a fragrant and far-spreading odor or scent, 
the gentle and pleasing l&vor or smoothness, 
the bright shining nitor or lustre. 

My task at this time hath been to break a 
small box of ointment to pour upon his feet; and 
I hope there is no body will accuse me of any 
waste, either of my time or my oil ; especially 
considering both were little. If there should be 
any murmurers, I hope to find them that will 
excuse me with this apology, saying, I have done 
a good work upon him, I have done what I could, 
and done it for his burial. Mark xiv, 8 ; Matt. 



564 APPENDIX. 

xxvi, 10, 12. And sure we do all well to help to 
embalm his name, especially since we may do it 
at his own cost, for he hath provided the spices 
in his life. When he lived, his lips dropped 
myrrh, and his pen the oil of calamus and cinna- 
mon; the smell whereof hath filled the house of 
God with such perfume, as I hope this age, as 
ill-scented as it is, will never wear out. 

His life was so well acted, as, had not his 
modesty forbidden it, he might have taken his 
leave of the world, as Augustus did, with Valete 
et plaudit e, / farewell, and speak well of me. 

He is now silent, and so must I be, for the 
time will not allow me to protract my speech. 
An angel from heaven hath translated the soul of 
this angel of the church, and placed it among the 
twenty-four elders, which St. John saw about the 
throne of God, (Rev. iv, 4.) which good inter- 
preters have taken to be a type of the twenty- 
four chief priests under the law, and of their 
analogical successors, the bishops of the christian 
church, attired with a white robe of glory, instead 
of his earthly rochet ; and instead of his crosier, 
he hath a branch of the peaceful and victorious 
palm put into his hands ; and for his mitre, which 
fell with the royal crown, (when the time was 
come that his old master's prophecy was to be 
fulfilled, No Bishop, no King,) he hath a crown 
of glory set upon his head. A Pisgah sight he 



APPENDIX, 



565 



often had of this heavenly Canaan, when he 
was upon his mount of contemplation ; but now 
he is gotten up to the top of the ladder, and 
seeth the face of God indeed in the true Peniel. 

Methinks now I hear some of you say with 
Balaam, O that I might die the death of the 
righteous, and that my latter end might be like his! 
I shall tell you, in a few words, how that may, 
and I have done. 

Follow the steps of his holy life, and the 
instructions of his godly books ; learn of Israel 
and of this parallel father, to prize the spiritual 
birthright, above any present fleshly enjoyments, 
and to wrestle with God for it in prayer : medi- 
tate much and often of heaven and heavenly 
things, as he did ; imitate him in his holy vows, 
and be careful to pay them: follow, I say, the 
steps of his faith and charity, and you cannot 
miss of such an end : For as many as walk 
according to this rule, peace shall be upon them, 
and upon the Israel of God. Amen. 



566 



APPENDIX. 



EPITAPH 

ON THE MONUMENT OF MR. HENRY BRIGHT, IN 
WORCESTER CATHEDRAL, 

Composed by Doctor Jos. Hall, then Dean of Wercester. * 

Mane, Hospes, & lege. 
Magister Henricus Bright, 

celeberrimus Gymnasiarcha, 
qui Scholee Itegiae istic fundatae 
per totos Qudraginta Aonos summa cum 
laude praefuit : 
Quo non alter magis sedulus fuit scitusve aut dexter 
in Latinis, Graecis, Hebraicis, 
Literis feliciter edocendis : 
Teste utraque Academia, quam instruxit affatim numerosa 
pube literaria : 
Sed et totidem annis eoque ainplius Theologiam 
professus, 

et hujus Ecclesiae per septemnium Canonicus major, 
Ssepissime hie & alibi sacrum Dei Preeconem magno cum 
zelo & fructu egit : 
Vir pius, doctus, integer, frugi, de Republica 
deque Ecclesia optime meritus, 
a laboribas perdiu 
pernoctuque ab anno 1562 ad 1626, 
strenue usque extant latis, 4to Martii suaviter requievit 
in Domino. 



* See Fuller's Worthies of England in Worcestershire. 



ANGELUS E CCELO AD ANGELUM ECCLESI^E N. AD 
CCELUM TRANSEUNTEM. 



Ave Pater Sancte, Proso-metrica. 
Gratis dilecte, gratia jam plene, 
Dominus tecum, tuq ; cum Domino, 
Semper fuit, semper es futurus. 
Benedictus tu inter viros, inter angelos. 

En age, ocius hanc nostram ascendas alam, 
Simulq; ascendamus hanc scalam ngocvoKXifxaxa : 

Quin et properare jussit expectans Dominus, 
Idemq; cupiunt conservi omnes, 

Gestientes videre, aventes exosculari. 
Uterq; te manet gratulabundus Adamus 

Et qui perdidit, et qui servavit. 

Jamjam aperuit sinum, 
Fidus Fidorum Pater Abraham : 
Brachiisq ; extensis adstat Parallelus Israel, 
Cum charissimo filio cognomine Josepho. 
Fratresq; omnes in amplexum ruituri. 

In Aicensn. 

Quid moraris, quid miraris 
Lumina haec pervia ? 
Quid Lunam argenteam noctis reginam ? 

Quid aureum solem diei regem? 
In sidera errantia quid errant oculi ? 

In fixa quid figis Lumina? 
Quorsum (post solem) duodena signa pervagaris? 

Non est hoc veri nominis, nec numinis Coelum 
Non haec aula Jovis 'Afirojueyira : 
Sed ejusdem camerata cella. 



568 



APPENDIX. 



Nec sunt hsec lumina vere coelestia 
Sed umbra luminum super-coelestium. 

Attolle oculos, aspice justitice solera, 
Suo jam culminantem 
Fixo aeternoq. meridie. 
Hujusq; radiis gloria plenam, 
Formosam lunam vere lucinam, 
Scilicet quae peperit lucem parentem. 
Ecce Patriarcharum bis sena signa 
Totidemq; Apostolorum antitypum Senatum. 
Ecce Saturnum grandaevum Adamum : 
Jovemq ; legiferum Mosen : 
Martem, bellicosum Josuam : 
Eliam, Mer curium, post coelica peracta jussa 

Ad ccelum impigre revolantem. 
Ecce Hesperum solis praecursorem 

Johannem Baptistam. 
Ecce Pleiades Empyreos, 
Septem Fratres, stellas Asiaticas : 
Ecce agmina minorum syderum, 

Variantis magnitudinis, 
Omnia libi lucem praebent Venture 

Adjunge latus debito choro, 
Auge destinatam constellationem, 
Sed primum, cosli amicus, induas amictum coelestem. 
Hanc scilicet gloriae albam, 
Pro terrea direpta palla ; 
Illam victricem palmam, 
Pro extorto pastorali pedo : 
Istam coronam sideream, 
Pro tenui decussa cydari. 
Vide Arborem vitae de qua toties legisti, 
Plujus nunc fructum legas, 
Et aeternum vivas. 

J.W. M.A, 



UPON THE MUCH-LAMENTED DEATH OF 
REV. FATHER JOSEPH, LATE LORD 
BISHOP OF NORWICH. 



Our Father dead? can any dumb-born son 
Forbear to cry, Die, and we are undone ? 
Ah ! could our cries his flying ghost recall, 
'T had soon returned to its wonted stall : 

But since 
From hence 

It must ; blow high our deep-fetch'd sighs, and land 
This high-priz'd treasure on the heav'nly strand. 
That's all we can, for without his own skill 
Of tongue and fancy, can't the briskest quill 

His worth 
Set forth, 

Yet cry we must, and though in uncouth tones, 
And dreary accents of confused groans, 
Tell the mis- deeming world — 
What rich embroidery of wit and grace, 
Like sparkling diamonds set in golden case, 
Like the pure white and red, in beauty's cheek, 
With sweet contention that precedence seek, 

Possest 
That breast. 

How sweet a dresse of smiling gravity 
Sate on that reverend brow ; how solidly 
Fraughted with Gospel treasure at its home, 
That soul's arriv'd like ship from Indies come. 
See in that mind a land-skip of all graces 
Pourtray'd to life, rank'd in their proper places. 



570 



APPENDIX. 



Here love and peace imbrace, there meekness, sanctity : 

Below at distance sits humility; 

See yonder charity, with arms expanded, 

With tender bowels open-handed ; 

There patience stoops, and bends her shoulders low 

To bear that load the unworthy world will throw 

On wronged innocence. Then tap'ring to the sky 

You'l see pure zeal, devotion, piety. 

All these unfucus'd, candid, and serene ; 

Not like the modern garb, to serve the scene 

Of ends and interests ; mere pageantry, 

To gull such souls as see with half an eye. 

Such stales of vertue's, but a saint-like cheat, 

Glasse to his chrystal, glowworms to his heat. 

Was ever soul ravish'd in meditation, 

Wound up on high in contemplation 

Divine, 
Like thine? 

Such know the beating of thy pulse whose trafficJc 

Was wholly so cherubic k and seraphick, 

That it evince, 'tis not heretical 

To say, angels may be corporeal. 

His holy life, a silent check to all 

The rout of vices, was : his pen the maul 

Of sects 
And smects. 

His name did more perfume the church, than gum 
Of Stacte, Onycha, and Galbanum 
Did Moses' sacred tent ; and certainly 
Whilst HalVs remembered, Bishop cannot die. 
And that will be, till books shall be calcin'd, 
With the elements above ; and all refin'd, 

At the last conflagration 

Learned Armagh * to honour this his day, 
His Usher was, and heaven- ward led the way. 
When aged Durham + shall remove his station, 
How great, how glorious a Constellation 



* Abp. Usher. t Bp. Morton. 



APPENDIX. 



571 



In th' orb empyreal will they make, those three 

That will outshine the radiant Cassiopee. 

But stay: these blundering lines do wrong the blest, 

Let Yare and Isca murmur out the rest : 

Only our dropping tears shall never stint, 

Till on his marble they these words imprint : 

Maugre the peevish world's complaint, 
Here lies a Bishop and a saint. 

Whom A shby* bred, and Grant a nurs'd 
Whom Hals ted, and old Walt ham first 
To rouz the stupid world from sloth, 
Heard thund'ring with a golden mouth, 
Whom Wor'ster next did dignifte, 
And honoured with her Deanry : 
Whom Exon lent a mitred wreath, 
And Norwich, where he ceas'd to breath. 

These all with one joint voice do cry, 
Death's vain attempt, what doth it mean? 
My Son, my Pupil, Pastor, Dean, 
My rev rend Father, cannot die. 

Deflevit H. N. b.d. 



de-la-zouch. 



IN OBITUM AMPLISSIMI PATRIS J. H. EPISCOPI 
NORVICENSIS. 



IAMBI RECTI. 

Indulte cceli tarn benigno munere, 
Quantis tuorum luctibus refers pedem, 
Facunde Praesul ! quo domante multiceps 
Pecu, profanas ordini intentans sacro 
Late ruinas, coDcidit; quo vindice, 
Census secundi Flamen anctus infula 
Nondum superbit ; siquibus distinguere 
Humana brutis arma jam cordi net ; 
Mentisq ; doctae si tropaea viribus 
Nequam protervis praeferant. Olim tuos 
Sensit lacertos factio Brownistica: 
Antistes ille septicolli culmine, 
Superbus olim sensit. Ut tan turn cluat 
Sagata virtus, neutiquam toga minor 
Tncedis, hinc te duplicis serti decus, 
Oliva, laurus, gloria pari beat. 
Tricisque praspedita conscientia 
Quam dexter adsis perpetim fatebitur, 
Quam luculenta nubilam ducas fide, 
Cujusq; scripti quae venusta luminal 
Qualesque nervi! cuncta quam normaliter 
Concinna, queis sunt attributa partibus ! 
Piaq ; suavitate quern non detinent ! 
Sed quae Camaena, dulcibus fastigiis 
Dignanda coeli, pergat exiles domos 
Rectoris alti, spiritus et accolas 
Referre tecum ? quando pene libera 
Mens jam senilis corticem perrumpere, 



APPENDIX. 



573 



Coepit catastse, et limpido vesci aethere, 
O quanta pomis indidern mysteria! 
At vita qualis sanctitatis ! quam pii 
Foscunda amoris ! quamq ; nullis seculi 
Exulcerata cladibus, quas ordine 
Longo furentes, miles infractus pati ! 
Lcetisque possis impiger cervicibus. 
Partes in omnes qui volet te prosequi 
Laudum canenti quanta cresceret seges ! 
Sed nos Galenus. 

Instantibus amicis extempore profudit, 



J.W. M.D.C.L. 



TO MASTER JOSUAH SYLVESTER, OF HIS BARTAS 
METAPHRASED. 



I dare confess, of muses more than nine, 

Nor list, nor can I envy none but thine. 

She, drencht alone in Sion's sacred spring 

Her Maker's praise hath sweetly chose to sing, 

And reacheth nearest th' angel's notes above; 

Nor lists to sing or tales or wars or love. 

One while I find her, in her nimble flight, 

Cutting the brazen spheres of heaven bright: 

Thence, straight she glides, before I be aware 

Through the three regions of the liquid air : 

Thence rushing downe, through Nature's closet door, 

She ransacks all her grandame's secret store; 

And diving to the darkness of the deep, 

Sees there what wealth the waves in prison keep ; 

And, what she sees above, below, between, 

She shows and sings to others ears and eyne. 

'Tis true, thy muse another's steps doth press 

The more's her pain, nor is her praise the less. 

Freedom gives scope unto the roving thought ; 

Which, by restraint, is curb'd. Who wonders aught, 

That feet unfettered, walken far, or fast? 

Which, pent with chains, mote want their wonted h iste. 

Thou followest Badasses diviner streine ; 

And singst his numbers in his native vein. 

Bartas was some french angel, girt with bayes 

And thou, a Bartas art, in English lays. 

Whether is more ! me seems (the sooth to sayn) 

One Bartas speaks in tongues, — in nations twain. 



JOS. HALL. 



INDEX. 



ACT for the propagation of religion in Wales, 362. 

Apprentices, of London, their petition against the church, 214, 271, 272. 

Army, insisting on toleration, 339 taking the sovereign power into their 

own hands, 349. Remonstrance of, ibid. Secure the person of the 

king in Hurst castle, 350. Shut out tlie presbyterian members from 

parliament, determine to impeach the king, ib. 
Assembly of Divines, 309. prohibited by the king, ib. forsaken by the 

episcopal divines, 310. manage church matters, 313. 

Bags/law, 167. 

Barebone's parliament, 366. their intended reformation, 367. described 

by Clarendon, ib. dissolve themselves, 369. 
Barton, 148, 149, 193. 
Bnsiwich, ib. 

Bill, to exclude ecclesiastics from civil employments, 221. Clarendon's 
remarks upon it, ib. His majesty's opinion of it, 223. passed the 
commons, ib. opposed and thrown ont in the house of lords, 224. 
Bishop Hall's speech on the occasion, 224-230. 

Bill, for abolishing deans and chapters, 233. for the extirpation of epis- 
copacy, 230. opposed, 231. read a second time, ib. Clarendon's 
manoeuvre respecting it, 232. 

— For taking away the bishops' votes, passed, 282. opposed by the 
Bishop of Rochester and the Earl of Bedford, ib. obtained the royal 
assent, 285. 

—To continue parliament, 242. to abolish the high commission, and the 
star chamber, 243. for the abolition of episcopacy, 308, 309, 329. 

Bishops, many of them disposed to remove offensive innovations, 217. 
Their cares and anxieties, 121, note. Their protestation, 275—277. 
Their plea and demurrer, 247, 270. Their houses threatened to be pulled 
down, 274. determine not to quit the parliament, ib. Twelve protest- 
ing impeached, 279. entreated to relinquish their right of voting, 282. 
Twelve protesting petition for council, 291. Their trial, ib. 292. are 
released, 293. when prisoners in the tower, preach every Sunday, 294. 

Blundel, Peter, 15. 

Book of Sports, 72. republished, 131. Copy of, 131-138. bad effects 
of it, 138--142. refused to be read by many of the clergy, 139. the 
cause of much trouble to them, 139, 140. not mentioned in the Works 
of Bishop Hall, 143. 

Brown, Robert, some account of, 48, 49. 

Brownists, 48, 49, 50. 

Burnet, Bishop, quoted, 333. 



568 



INDEX. 



Cambridge, university of, purified by the parliament, 314. 

Canons, subscribed, 174. published, 175. Abstract of them, 175-180. 
generally disliked, 180, 181. Resolutions of the commons against them, 
188, 189. Speech of Bishop Hall in their defence, 248-253. against 
papists and socinians, 171. 

Catechizing, recommended, 123, 124. 

Cathedrals and Churches, devastated, 316. 

Commissioners for defacing the ornaments, &c. of churches, 198. 

Committee of Accommodation, 234, 235. Fuller's opinion of, 236. 

Committees for religion and grievances, 169, 187, 188. 

Communion tables, disputes about, 146, 147. 

Commons, their reasons against the bishops' votes, 287—289. 

Commonwealth established, 352. 

Complaints against the bishops, 196. 

Corporation of the sons of the clergy, 383. 

Cosins, Dr. the first sufferer, 194. 

Convocation, continued after dissolution of parliament, 172. Disturbance 

in consequence, 173. 
Charles I, a blemish in his character, 140, 141. 
Charles II, crowned in Scotland, 363. 
Chaderton, Dr. 12. 
Chomley, Mr. H. 9. 
Church ales, what, 129, note. 

Church, destruction of, intended, 200, 210, 211, 237, 245, 270, 817. 
troubled by controversies, 107. managed by the assembly of divines, 
313. 

Clamour against the clergy, 196. 

Cullum, Sir John's, History of Hawsted and Hardwick, 17, note. 
Clergy, their sufferings, 314. their number no less than two thousand, 

ib. 315. Connived at in the exercise of their ministry, 371. 
Clarendon, Lord, his observations on the mode of getting up petitions, 

196, 211, 212. 
Clerk ales, what, 129, note. 

Cromwell, Oliver, near being seized by the presbyterians, 339. saying 
of his, 340. his cruel oppression of the loyal clergy, 380, note. Anec- 
dote of, 382. turning the parliament out of doors, 365. dissolving 
another, 374. 

Cross, St. Paul's, description of, by Dr. Walker; and Cross in Cheapside, 
demolished, 198. 

Denham, Baron, 129, 130. 

Deering, Sir Edward, his speech on the delivery of the bill for extirpating 

episcopacy, 230, 231. 
Differences, arising between the presbyterians and independents, 321. 
Directory, for public worship, 323, 

Disorder of church and state, 337. pathetically deplored by Bishop 

Hall, ib. 
Disputes, religious, in Holland, 74. 

Disturbances, in London and in the country, 170. on presenting petitions, 
272. 

Divine Service, disturbed by the rabble, 197. 
Divisions in religion, evil of, 354, 355, 358. 
Drury, account of the family of the, 17, note. 
Dugdale, quoted, 271. 
Doddridge, Dr. 5, note, 442. 
Dort, Synod of, 74-92. 



INDEX. 



577 



Engagement, appointed, 352, 358, 

English Divines, deputed to the Synod of Dort. receive instructions from 

the king, 75, 76 Their opinions, 90, 92. 
Enthusiasts, springing up, 320, 321. 

Episcopacy, divine right of, 153—167. Attempt of establishing in Scot- 
land, 152, 153. abolished by the Scots' assembly, ib. abolished in 
England, 371. 

Erasiiuns, described, 318. 

Falkland, Lord, his character by Clarendon, 216. 

Featley, Dr. imprisoned for his attachment to episcopacy, 311. 
Form of prayer in use in the Jewish and Christian church, 207. 
Fox, George, 363. 
Fifths, 314, 315. 

Fuller, his remarks on Bishop Hall's Letter respecting the Synod of Dort, 
83. his mention of Bishop Hall's Catechism, 123, note. A mistake of 
his, 280. 

Flattery, instance of, 99, 100 

Gangrcena } of Edwards, 337, note. 
Gilby, Mr. Anthony, 4. 

Government of the church interrupted for eighteen years, 309, 317, 320. 
Godwin, de Presulibus, 425. 

Goodwin, John, his Redemption Redeemed, 80. his unjust insinuations 

respecting the Synod of Dort, refuted, 80, 81, 82. 
Greenham, anecdote of, 22, 23. 
Great Gransden, 146, note. 
Granger, quoted, 149. 

Grimstone, Sir Harbotile, moves the impeachment of Laud, 190. 
Backet, Dr. defends the clergy, 232, 233. 

Hall, Bishop, specialities of divine providence in his life, 2. Time 
and place of his birth, ib. His pareuts, ib. 3. placed at school, 5. 
enters at Cambridge, 6. elected scholar of Emmanuel college, 10. 
elected fellow, 12. appointed professor of rhetoric, 13. His intense 
study, ib. 426-430. Anecdote of, by Fuller, ib. note, enters into holy 
orders, 14. Appointed to the rectory of Halstead. 16. Opposed by 
Lilly, 18. Marries, 20. his children, account of, 20, 21. Anecdote 
of Ins family, 21,22. Accompanies Sir Edm. Bacon to the Spa, 23. 
disputes with Costerns, 25, 26, 33. Writes his second century of 
meditations, 28. disputes with a Carmelite prior, ib. returns to 
England, 30. his travels, account of, in an epistle, 31-40- declines 
the preachership of St. Edm. Bury, 41. preaches at Richmond, 42. 
resolves to leave Halstead, 43. presented to the living of Waltham by 
Lord Derry, 44. His reluctance to leave Halstead, 44-47. was 
an instrument in influencing Tho. Sutton, to establish the charter 
house, ib. Writes against the Brownists, 48. His letter to Smith 
and Robinson, 50--55. Declines constant residence at court, 57. His 
sermon on the death of Prince Henry, 58. is appointed to a prebend 
of Wolverhampton, 60. recovers the patrimony of that collegiat e 
church, 61--64. relinquishes his Wolverhampton prebend, ib. Ac 
companies Lord Doncaster abroad, ib. is collated to the deanery Of 
Worcester, 66. Attends the king to Scotland, 67. Writes to Mr^ 
Struthers, 68. urges not the reading of the Book of Sports, 72, goes* 

P p 



578 



INDEX. 



to the Synod of Dort, 75. His letter to Fuller respecting the Synod' 
80, 83. returns from the Synod, ib. is presented by the S\nod with a 
gold medal, 86. preaches before the Synod, 87. quotations from his 
sermon, ib. His latin speech before the Synod, 88- 90. draws up his 
Via Media, 92, 93, 108, 109. asserts the outward visibility of the church 
of Rome, 95, 117, 118, 121. His sermon before the king, quoted, 98, 99. 
preaches in latin at the convocation, 104. His sermon translated by 
his son Robert, 105. preaches at the re-opening of the re-edified 
chapel of St. John's, Clerkenwell, ib. His moderation with respect to 
the five points, 108. is raised to the See of Exeter, 112. is charged 
with puritanism, 113, 125, 165. 

— Reclaims his factious clergy, 113. is charged with too much indulgence 
of lectures, 114, 125, 127. 

—is opposed in his nomination of the clerks of the convocation, 115. is 
translated to Norwich, ib. His mind pourtrayed, 121. His Cate- 
chism, 123, note, recommends catechizing, 123. 124. was a diligent 
preacher, 127. His great moderation, 128, 148, 184. His Divine 
Right of Episcopacy, 153. revised by Land, 154. altered con- 
trary to his own mind, 161, 163. Quotations from, 165,167. was 
the most celebrated writer in defence of the church, 165. His speech 
in parliament in behalf of the church, 200-204, His l< Humble 
Remonstrance," 205. His controversy with Smectymnuus, 205—209. 
His sentiments upon extemporary prayer, 207—209. His speech in 
parliament upon the bill to exclude all ecclesiastics from civil employ- 
ments, 224-230. retires to Exeter, preaches in the cathedral, remarks 
on his sermon, 258—261. Extract from his sermon, ib. His sermon in 
the tower, 294. His letter from the tower, 296. His state of mind 
described when a prisoner, 295- 303. retires to Norwich, 304. 
preaches in the cathedral, ib. His curious account of the enthusiasts 
of his time, 321, 322. His u Modest offer of some considerations to the 
Prolocutor of the Assembly of Divines," 320. His Hard Measure, 
386—409. His persecution in his old age, 409. His patience, 414, 
418. driven out of his palace, 415. retires to Heigham, ib. His house 
now a public house, ib. spent the remainder of his days in doing 
good, and in devotion, 416, 417. preaches in his 80th year, ib. a 
striking passage from his sermon, ib. His charity, 417,418. His 
weekly fast, ib. foretels the night of his death, ib. His death, ib. 
dislike of burials in churches, ib. buried in the chancel of Heigham 
church, 419. His will, extract from, 418, note. Inscription on his 
tomb-stone, 419. His mural monument described, 420, His character, 
425—432. his waitings, ib. His mode of spending each day, 426—430. 
His Satires, character of, 433-438. His iutention of making a metri- 
cal version of the Psalms, 438, 439. His prose works, character of, by 
Sir H.Wotton, Fuller, Hervey, and Dr. Doddridge, 439-443. His 
Sermons, 443. His Contemplations and Meditations, 442-444. His 
other pieces, 446—448. 

Hall, Mrs. 20. Her death, 420. buried in Heigham church, ib. 
Inscription on her tomb stone, 421. 

Hall, Dr. Robert, 21,371. 

Hall, Dr. George, 21, 371. preaches before the Corporation of the Sons 

of the Clergy, 383. Extract from his sermon, 384, 385. 
Harris, his character of Archbishop Usher, 383. 
Henry, Prince, his death and character, 58. 
Heylin, Dr. quoted, 233. 
High Commission Court, account of, 243. 



INDEX. 



570 



$duse of Lords, voted useless, 351. 
Hervey, Rev. James, 441. 

Home, Bishop, his sermon on King Charles I. 351, note. 

Impeachment of thirteen bishops, 246. their names, ib. 
Independents, account of, 319. 
Instrument of government, 369. 

Instructions of the king to the divines sent to the Synod of Dort. 75-77;, 
Insurrection in Ireland, 263. 
Interregnum in the church, 320. 

James I. his death, 98. his funeral sermon, 100-104. 
John, St. chapel, Clerkenwell, account of, 105, note. 

Kennet, Bishop, his testimony to the liberality of Cromwell, 372. 

King, (Charles I.) his speech, 168. his journey to Scotland, 255. His 
attachment to the church, 261, 263, 268, 269. collates bishops to the 
vacant Sees, and translates others, 261, 262. impeaches five members 
of the commons, 289. a wrong step, 290. sets up his standard at 
Nottingham, 291. retires to York, 305. is persuaded to give his assent 
to the bill for taking away the bishops' votes, 285. sad effects of it, ib. 
286, 287. delivers himself up to the Scots, 332. disputes with Hen- 
derson, 333. is given up to the parliament, 334. is conveyed to 
Holmby house, 338. is taken by force to the army at Newmarket, 340. 
escapes, 341. secured in Cavisbrook castle, ib. conveyed to Hurst 
castle, 350. is murdered, 351. 

Kirk discipline advanced into a divine right, 238. 

Lambeth palace attacked by the mob, 169. 

Lands of bishops, deans, and chapters, sold, 360. amount of the money, 
361, note. 

Latin sermon of Bishop Hall before the Synod of Dort, in Appendix, 476. 

Laud, Archbishop, patronises Montague, 97. disapproves of lectures, 
126. His intolerancy, 126. Chief promoter of the Book of Sports, 
131, 139. Voted to the Tower, 191. His catastrophe, 325, 362. His 
character, 326, 327. His munificence, 328. 

Lecturers, disaffected, appointed, 257. 

Leighton, Dr. Alex. 194. 

Letter of Bishop Hall to Fuller about the Synod of Dort, 80-83. 

Letters of Bishop Hall to Archbishop Usher, in Appendix, 461. 

Lilly, opponent of Bishop Hall, account of, 18, note. 

Liturgy, abused, 196. Debates about in parliament, 255. disused, 323. 

king's proclamation for its continuance, 324. 
Long parliament, 186. 

Mant's, Dr. Bible, 413. 

Maternal instmction, benefit of, 5, note. 

Milton, employed to write in defence of commonwealth, 359. 

Minister's petition, 213, 220. 

Montague's New Gag, Sec. 96. his appeal, 97. his writings examined 
before parliament, 106. 



Neal, an invidious remark of his, 263. a probable mistake of his, 272. 
another, 280. 



580 



INDEX. 



Negative Oath, 414, note. 
Newport, treaty of, 345, 349. 

Oath at the Synod of Dort, 79,81. in 6th Canon, explained by Bishop 
HaU, 181. Difficulties of enforcing it, 182. Petitions against it, 183. 
Synodical, Bishop Hall's moderation respecting it, 184. 

Officers of the Army, preach, 336. 

Opinions, false, multiplied, 354, 355. Bishop Hall's remarks upon, ib. 
Ordinance, most cruel, of parliament, against sects and heretics, 344, 345. 

Osbaldestort, 151. 

Oxford, visitation of, by the disloyalists, 344. 

Pamphlets, seditious and scurrilous against the church, 200. 

Papists, their opinions and wishes respecting Bishop Hall's writings in 

defence of episcopacy, 210, note, proceeded against, 238, 239. 
Parliament, Ion;;, strictly urged the due observance of the sabbath, 145. 

sitting on a sunday, 254. Their declaration for the reformation of 

government and liturgy, 305, 300. 
Parties, in religion and politics, a warning to future ages, 308. 
Pearson, bishop, 372. 

Petitions, 188. described by Dugdale, ib. note- Of " the city dames 7 ' 
against the bishops' votes, 271. Of the porters of Loudon, against 
episcopacy, 214. Of the apprentices, 214, 271, 272. Root and Branch, 
213. in favour of the church, 213. rejected, 214. Their substance, 
21S, 220, 283. Of the suffering clergy to the king, 342. His Majesty's 
reply, ib to Sir Thomas Fairfax, ib. Of the presbylerian ministers 
against the loyal clergy, 343. 

Petitionary remonstrance of the loyal clergy to Cromwell, 381. 

Popery, gaining ground, 96. 

Porters, of London, petition against episcopacy, as too heavy a load, 214. 
Pratt's, Rev. Josiah, edition of Bishop Hall's Works, 448. 
Prayer, extemporary, 207- 209. 

Press, placed under the direction of parliament, 361. 

Presbyterianism, its oppression, 324. the established religion, 375. 

Presbyterian model, adapted, 318. advanced into jus divinum, ib. 

ministers refuse the engagement, 559. 

Presbyterians, suffering of the, from the independents, 353. 

Protestation, entered upon, 239. disapproved by Earl of Southampton 
and Lord Roberts, 240. Bill to compel all to subscribe it, ib. re- 
jected by the peers, ib. Of the bishops, 275. presented to the king, 
278. its irregularity, ib. 280. 

Prynne, Wm. his Histriomastix, 147, 148, 149, 193. 

Pulpits, sounding with faction, and fanaticism, 198. 

Puritans, their intemperate practices, 147. many of them tools of par- 
liament, 199. 
Puritanism, described, 449-458. 
Pym, Mr. 239, 273. 

Quakers, their origin, 362, 363. 

Rapin, an error of his, 237. 

Religion, unsettled state of, 257, 354, 356. Bishop Hall's remarks, ib. 
Remonstrance, of the state of the nation, 264,265. His Majesty's reply, 
266-268. 

Repartee, of Grimslone and Selden, 217, note. 
"tcfcmfceii, Lord Chief Justice, 129, 130. 



INDEX. 



581 



Root and Branch petition, 212, 214, 
Rump Parliament, 353, note. 

Sabbath, morality of, controverted, 144. 

Sanderson, Dr. remaiks upon the oath in 6th canon, 182. 

Sects, springing up, 37. increasing, 98. 

Scott's, Rev. Thomas, Bible, 413. 

Scots, aid of, called in, 317. 

Smectymnuus, reply to " Humble Remonstrance/' 205. 
Smith, the Brownist, extravagant notions of, 55. 

Solemn league and covenant, 311. mode of taking it, described by Dr. 
Walker, 312. King's proclamation against it, 313. tendered to the 
University of Cambridge, 314. to the king, 333. to Oxford, 344. 

Songs in the Night, occasioned by the death of Mrs. Hall, extract from, 
421-424. 

Spalato, Archbishop of, 63. 

Speeches, of Lords Digby and Falkland, 215. 

Steward, Dr. 170. 

Suffeiings, extreme, of the clergy, 353, 377, 378. Dr. Walker's remarks 

upon, 379, 380. Neal and Harris' remarks, ib. 
Swiday, profaned by revels and royal masquerade, 141. 
Sports, see under Book of, remarks upon, 71, 73. 
Strafford, Earl of, impeached, 241. beheaded, 242. 
Star chamber, description of, 244, note. 
Sterne, his plagiarisms, 448. 
Sutton, Thomas, Esq. 47. 
Struthers, Mr. 68. 
Synod of Dort, 78-90. 

Tiverton, school, 15. 

Toleration, to all heresies, errors, &c. 370. denied to popery and prelacy, ib. 
Travels of Bishop Hall, account of, 31, 40. 
Triers, 375. 

Turner, Dr. his sermon before convocation, 170. 

Usher, Archbishop, expelled from the Assembly of Divines for his loyalty, 
311. endeavours to prevail on Cromwell to relent his cruel oppression 
of the clergy, 381. succeeds not. very much hurt at Cromwell's eon- 
duct, 382. 

Uxbridge, treaty of, 329. 

Via Media, 92, 93, 108, 109, 111. 

Waltham, chorch of, account of, 44. 
War, with Scotland, 16S, 184, 185. civil begin, 307. 
Warminstre, his motion against the canons, 191. 
Warner, Dr. quoted, 196. 

Williams, Dr. Archbishop of York, ill treated by Laud, 150. his funeral 

sermon on James I. 100-114- Attacking one of the rabble, 274. 
Wren, Dr. Matthew, 194, 195. 
Wilks' Christian Essays, quoted, 357. 

Winniffe, Miss, afterwards Mrs. Hall, 20. Mr. George, ib. 
Whitefoot's funeral sermon on Bishop Hall, in Appendix, 
Worcester, battle of, 364. 
Wotton, Sir H. 439. 



ERRATA. 

Page 193, line 11 from the top, for " manifests/' read manifested. 
217, note, for " Seldon," read Selden. 



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